


Siren's Revenge

by buckyismymainman



Series: After Effects Series [4]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, I still have at least one more planned, It's the final show down with The Enclave but if you think this is the last book you would be wrong, Mentions of Sex, Minor Character Death, More characters may be added because I know I'm forgetting people, Swearing, This series will eventually get a happy ending though I promise, just to forewarn y'all now, mostly angst because the ending may hurt, pregnancy mentions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-21
Updated: 2018-09-23
Packaged: 2019-06-30 17:29:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 35,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15756435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buckyismymainman/pseuds/buckyismymainman
Summary: The showdown with The Enclave is nearing its end, and the Avengers are trying their hardest to stay positive.  It's been over a year since this all started and they would really like to wash their hands with this, especially Mina Gaspari.  She just wants to deal with wedding plans and whether her and Bucky will still live at the compound or not.  But things take an unexpected turn that will change Bucky and Mina's relationship, will the two of them ride off into the sunset happily ever after style or will something get in the way of that?





	1. Chapter 1

Two months.

That’s how long it had been since LA.  In those two months they had managed to save ten of the Sirens from The Enclave.  One of those being Emily who was currently sitting with Mina, Amara, Natasha, Wanda, Aunt May (she had come to visit Peter and wanted to join in with the other women at the compound), and Alia as they looked through wedding magazines.  Shuri was on the computer, they had Skyped her for this little group meeting.

“Guys, I don’t know why we’re doing this,” Mina said with a laugh as she picked up yet another magazine with a bride on the front cover.  “Bucky and I both agreed that we were going to wait until after this whole mess with The Enclave to even think about a wedding date.”

“That doesn’t mean we can’t look at gorgeous dresses and fantasize about what you’ll look like in them,” Natasha said as she poured everyone a drink.  “Come on, you can’t tell me you haven’t fantasized about the big day.”

Mina shook her head and turned back to the magazine she was flipping through.  “You should go with something nontraditional,” Shuri said. “Don’t fool with the white dress.  Wear a color you’ll like!”

“I like that idea,” Wanda said.  “White just doesn’t fit you.”

“Plus we all know it would be a lie,” Natasha said with a grin.

“Nat!”  Mina’s cheeks flamed red her eyes darting over to her mother who was laughing along with the rest of them.

Alia looked up at her daughter and said, “You’re young, things are different.  I don’t expect you to still be a virgin. I wasn’t.”

“Mom!”  Mina cried.  “I really don’t want to hear about this.”

“What I’m not going into detail, I’m just saying I wasn’t a virgin the day your father and I got married.”

Mina knew her face was probably fire engine red.  “Oh my God, can we please not talk about our sex lives right now?”  The others couldn’t stop giggling.

Bucky peeked his head into the room, “Can I steal Mina for a bit?”

“Please!”  Mina practically ran out of the room, dragging poor Bucky along behind her.  The sounds of the others laughter following them.

“Mind telling me what that was about, doll?”  He stopped her in the hallway, pulling her so her body was flush against his.

She hummed and gripped the belt loops on his jeans.  These were her favorite pair on him because they were tighter in the thighs.  “We were just talking wedding stuff even though I told them we were waiting for The Enclave to be over and done with.”

“Mm-hmm and wasn’t there something else about not wearing white because someone’s not a virgin anymore?”

“Stupid super soldier hearing,” she mumbled.

He laughed and bent down to kiss her, “You’ll look good no matter what color that group puts you in.”

She smiled against his lips, a feeling of overwhelming happiness surging through her.  She loved Bucky so much. “I have some free time before the meeting this afternoon,” she looked up at him through her lashes.  “And I was thinking about taking a shower before then. Care to join me?”

He scooped her into his arms, her legs going around his waist, fingers tangling in his hair.  He carried her down the hall to the elevator, once the doors closed he told F.R.I.D.A.Y. where they wanted to go.

 

Later that afternoon a freshly showered Mina and Bucky met up in the conference room with the former Sirens.  Each one of them had been living at the compound while they recovered from their ordeal. Shuri had moved in to watch their progress and make sure they didn’t revert back to the way Shinsky had them.

Tony was at the head of the table tapping away on the keyboard.  Wanda, Pietro, Peter, Steve, Natasha, and Amara were also in the room.

The holographic map of The Enclave’s headquarters pulled up in the center of the table.  Mina studied it. The thing had become more detailed since her and Amara had started it. But she had expected that when the other Sirens started to join them.

“I received word today that The Enclave has been moving more Sirens around lately, and that some more women are missing.”  Tony looked grim as he shared the news with the girls in the room. “I have reason to believe that they may be trying to create other Enhanced humans like Wanda and Pietro Maximoff.  They succeeded with a man named Varun.”

“Have any men gone missing?”  San-ha asked. “Why just women?  I know they have their guards, but what happens if those guards can’t take the changes that are taking place inside their bodies?  That would be a waste of a perfectly good foot soldier.”

“Maybe they are taking men, but we’re just not noticing because it’s not their usual MO,” Vesna said.  “They don’t want us to know exactly what they’re doing and how.”

“We need back in,” Mina said.  “We need a way to see what they’re doing, to know their plans.”

“How can we even do that now?” Anya asked.  “They all know we’re here, that you’ve succeeded in helping us get our lost memories back.  To go back now would be suicide or we would lose ourselves again.”

Mina chewed on her lip as she studied the map of the headquarters where she had spent so much time.  She could remember walking through those halls, seeing those labs, the feeling of being put under so they could experiment on her.  

Bucky watched her as she sorted through months worth of images, memories of when she had been captured and turned into a robot for The Enclave’s use.  He reached out under the table and put his hand on her leg, a quiet gesture to show that he was still here with her and that he wasn’t going anywhere.

“Give me some time, I’ll think of something,” she said at last, her eyes refocusing on the present around her.  She glanced over at Bucky, his face grim.

The girls continued to talk about how they could sabotage The Enclave, fighting over different tactics, but Mina’s eyes never left Bucky and his never left hers.

The meeting came to an end and they all filed out of the room to go do something else.  Pietro was standing outside waiting for San-ha. His face lighting up when he saw her. So far their relationship was a little one-sided.  Pietro liked her, but she only saw him as a friend. But he was just happy she was willing to spend time with him.

The other girls asked if Mina wanted to go grab a bite to eat with them, but she refused, saying that she wanted to catch up with some of her other friends like Steve and Sam.  All of them had been so busy lately that they barely had time to talk anymore.

They told her to have fun and disappeared out the door.  Wanda was going with them just to make sure nothing bad happened while they were out.  Bucky followed Mina down to the common room where Sam, Steve, Peter, and Aunt May were sitting watching some sitcom on the TV.

Mina sat down next to Peter, “‘Sup Sidey-Boy?”

“Nothing much Witchy Woman,” he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and she rested her head on his shoulder.  Aunt May and Bucky watched the two of them with soft smiles. “He really does care about her,” May whispered to Bucky.  “When she went missing poor Peter went through so many issues. Not even Ned could fix them.”

“I remember the first time I saw the two of them together.  They were like siblings arguing and picking on one another,” Bucky told her.  “He’s like the little brother she never had.”

“I’m glad he has her,” May looked toward Bucky.  “Peter likes everyone here especially Stark, but then Mina came along and he would not shut up about her.”  She looked back toward her nephew. “I remember the first time I met her, she wasn’t anything like I had expected.”

That got Bucky to chuckle, “I know what you mean.”

“There’s just something that draws you in when she’s around.  She’s so easy to get along with.” Bucky had to agree with May, even without her powers there was something about Mina that drew you in.  He wasn’t sure how to describe it. He just knew that she was able to draw people in.

Maybe it was her easy-going smile or her laugh.  Or just how she seemed approachable and non-judgemental.  Whatever it was he was glad he had opened himself up to her.

She caught him looking and sent a smile that was only ever meant for him his way.  He smiled back at her before turning his attention toward the TV to try and get invested in what the others had been watching when they had joined.

Peter and May left after a few more episodes to get some dinner.  Sam, Steve, Bucky, and Mina all stayed turning on a movie that they all enjoyed.  Mina crawled over to Bucky and rested her head in his lap, his fingers instantly going for her hair.  She liked the way her scalp tingled as he ran his fingers through it.

When the movie was over Sam and Steve excused themselves leaving Mina and Bucky alone.  His fingers continued to run through her hair and she knew that the only way he would stop is if she told him too.  “So about those wedding plans,” he hedged after a brief moment of silence.

A chuckle bubbled up in her chest, “Thought we agreed not to talk about those yet?”

“Well you’ve got me curious,” he said with a huff.  “You were in here most of the morning with the girls talking about dress and what color you’d wear, I want to know if anything else was planned.”

“Nat wanted to talk about the honeymoon destinations,” Mina said with a grin.  “I told her that was one thing we had already agreed on.” The vacation he had promised her to Greece was where they were going to go on their honeymoon.  Two birds with one stone and all that jazz.

“All right, but what else was talked about?”

She rolled over so she could look up at him, “The dress obviously, but that’s about it.  The others were just talking about what they wanted for their weddings mostly. I never gave any input on what we were going to do.  When the time comes you and I will decide together what we want to do and how we want to do it.”

“If you want to start planning Mina all you have to do is say so,” he told her.  “I know we said we’d wait, but I have a feeling this would be a good distraction for everyone.  We’re all about to take on The Enclave and hopefully stop them for good. Wedding details may be good for all of us.”

He did have a point, “I’ll talk with the others, but I’m telling them that you and I get the final say.  It’s your wedding too.”

“You’re not going to turn into one of those bridezillas if something doesn’t go your way, right?”  He teased her.

She sat up and smirked at him, “It depends on what happens down the road.”  She pecked him on the lips and stood up. “Come on, let’s get some food.”

 

The next passed by in a blur.  Mina and Bucky trained the other Sirens.  Helping them stay in shape and fighting ready.  Mina wasn’t surprised that they had all wanted to help take down The Enclave with the Avengers.  She would too if she had been in their shoes.

Some of them had been with The Enclave for years.  Years of their life wasted away under the control of Shinsky and the other members of The Enclave.

It angered her just as much as it did these women.  They wanted to get back home to their families, to let them know that they were still alive and all right.  Some of the girls had even said when they were out in the field if they had appeared in a magazine and their parents or loved ones saw they would come looking for them.

But when they showed up of course the women didn’t recognize their families and would send them away.

Mina had held some of them as they cried.  Thinking about how they all could have gone home, but those sick bastards had made them forget.  It tore Mina apart. She had only been gone for months, these women had been gone for years.

Anger burned through her at the thought of more women being put through this.  Scared and alone in a new place as Shinsky prepared to turn them into one of his Sirens.  She wasn’t going to let this go on for much longer. She was going to put a stop to this. 

If she had any say in it no more lives were going to get messed up by Shinsky and his group of scientists.


	2. Chapter 2

Mina actually woke up late, a rarity as of late, but this morning was different from the rest of them.  It was a Saturday and Tony had deemed it a holiday for the people living at the compound. To be honest she thought he just wanted to go spend time with Pepper and not have the others bugging him all day, but hey she couldn’t complain.

She blinked several times allowing her eyes to adjust to the light, and felt Bucky’s bare chest pressed against her back.  He was still asleep, she knew because of how he was breathing. Slow and steady. She wanted to move, to get up and get dressed, but she didn’t want to disturb him when he was sleeping so soundly.

She laid there for a few more moments before Bucky’s breathing changed.  “Morning doll,” he said in his hoarse morning voice that sent shivers down her spine.

“Morning soldier,” she responded a bit breathlessly as he placed a soft kiss right below her ear.  One of her sweet spots that Bucky was always kissing.

“Do you know what today is?”  He kissed her again.

“No what day is it?”

“Your birthday doll, did you really forget?”  He chuckled as she rolled over to face him, her eyes going wide.  “Why do you think Tony gave us all the day off?”

“It’s the twentieth already?”  She tried to remember how she had gotten so lost in thought over this.  “It can’t be.” She shook her head. “I refuse to believe that it is April twentieth already.”

“It is and that means that you are now officially twenty-five.”

She groaned, “Don’t remind me.”

“May I remind you that you are dating a man that is over a hundred years old?”  He arched an eyebrow at her. “You have no room to complain about your age.”

She kissed his neck, “Hmm, but you only look thirty to me.”

“Ha-ha, you and Steve have been hanging out too much.  If the teasing persists I’m just going to have to have to never talk to you again.”

She pouted, “But it’s so easy to tease you.”  There was a gleam in his eyes that Mina didn’t like the looks of.  “Bucky,” she said cautiously. “What are you planning?”

Without warning, he started to tickle her, her half-screech, half-laugh and making him smile as she writhed under his fingertips.  “Promise you’ll stop teasing me.”

“Never,” she yelled at him, a large smile on her face.

“Promise and I’ll stop.”  He pressed her legs down so she wouldn’t accidentally kick him with her wild, jerky movements.  “Come on you know you want too.”

“All right, I promise!”   She sucked in lungfuls of air as he stopped tickling her.  She glared up at him, “That wasn’t fair.”

“You know what isn’t fair?”  He asked as he came closer.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, “What?”

“You going to bed in nothing but my shirt and a pair of your underwear.”  He tugged at the black t-shirt she was currently wearing. She loved his clothes, how big and comfortable they were.  “Way worse than me tickling you.”

She narrowed her eyes, a smile on her face, “Oh really?  Maybe I’m doing this on purpose.”

“Oh I know you are.”  He bent down and placed a kiss on the corner of her mouth working his way down her neck.  His hands pushing the material of his shirt upward. She loved the different sensations of his hand, one cool and smooth, the other warm and rough.

“James,” she whispered as he left a mark on her shoulder.

Her shirt disappeared and he continued to work his way down her body, she was squirming underneath him.  He looked up at her with a shit eating grin that turned her into a puddle, her heart rate erratic. 

He continued to tease her with his fingers and mouth and until she was nothing but an exhausted sweaty mess on the mattress.  She laid on the bed trying to catch her breath, Bucky laying beside her watching as she came down from her high. His metal fingers tracing patterns on her stomach making her twitch when he reached several spots that were sensitive.

“Well I would definitely say this was a good morning,” he smirked at her and she giggled in response.  “Shower?”

“I still need a moment,” she said breathlessly.

He waited until she was ready and helped her off the bed, the two of them deciding to take a long hot bath together.  Once they got out and dressed they headed to the kitchen to grab breakfast. Bucky insisting that he make the waffles with cinnamon and brown sugar for her.  She didn’t complain, she actually really enjoyed those.

They ate and talked and after breakfast he pulled a small box from his pocket and handed it over to her, “Happy Birthday Mina.”

She opened it to see Perseus’s constellation attached to a gold chain in the box.  She looked up at Bucky, “It’s beautiful Bucky.” He pulled it out and put in around her neck.  She tugged on it and looked down at it. “Why not Cassiopeia?” She looked up at him, a little smile playing on her lips.

He shrugged, “I just thought Perseus’s constellation was a little bit happier than hers.”

“Well, either way, I love it,” she kissed his cheek, her hand still fooling with the pendant.  

Their next stop was the living room where everyone had gathered, a loud “Happy Birthday Mina!” echoing through the room surprising her.

She pressed her hand to her chest, “Jesus guys, give me a heart attack would ya?”

“Yeah, she’s an old lady now, we have to treat her delicately,” Peter teased.

Mina smacked him upside the head, “See if I get you that new computer for your birthday now.”

His eyes widened, “You were gonna get me a computer?!”

“Not anymore!”  She wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed.  She released him from her hold and turned to the others.  She took in the sign that read ‘Happy Birthday’, the presents on the table in front of her, and the balloons scattered around the room.  “You guys didn’t have to go through all this trouble.”

“No trouble Little Mina,” Pietro said.  He never did keep the bet of not calling her ‘Little Mina’, but she honestly didn’t care.  “We wanted to celebrate your birthday.”

“Yeah,” San-ha said.  “You’ve saved us from The Enclave and this is just a little way for some of us to say thank you to you.  Without you and the Avengers, we would still be under Shinsky’s control.”

“I was just doing what needed to be done to make sure you all had free will again.”

“But it means so much to us,” Caitlin spoke up.  “After all this is over we get to go back to our lives again, something we wouldn’t have been able to do if it weren’t for you and the others.”

Mina felt a little flustered by all the praise she was getting.  Bucky slipped up beside her and wrapped an arm around her waist, “Come on doll, open your presents.”

She did finding various books, gift cards, clothing items (Steve had located some official Avenger’s merch with things relating to Bucky on them, Mina was thrilled), and her parents had given her some old family heirlooms that she had always loved.

It was all good until F.R.I.D.A.Y. alerted them to a delivery person at the door.  Steve got up to get it and when he came back he was grim-faced. “It’s for you,” he handed the box to Mina.

The smile fell from her face when she saw who it was from.  She looked up at Bucky who was clenching his jaw together tightly.  His face softened when his gaze met hers. The room had gone so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Bucky pulled out one of his knives that he always carried on him and handed it to her so she could open the box.  Inside were hundreds of photos. Most of them were of her and Bucky together when they ventured outside the safety of the compound.  Others were of some of the new Sirens looking scared as they were brought into headquarters.

The last ones were of Varun and Mina knew instantly that these were meant for Amara.  

Amara had been trying to hold it together for the past few months, but was struggling as she thought about whether he was alive or dead.  Or about what The Enclave was making him do. Mina handed the photos over to Amara, her face contorting into shock, tears filling her eyes.  A strangled sob escaped her and she covered her mouth.

He was still alive, but there was no trace of the Varun Amara had known in those photos.  In his place was a blank robot waiting for his next orders from the higher ups.

“I’m sorry,” Amara whispered as she dashed out of the room, dropping the photos as she went.  She was happy that he was still alive, but she hated seeing him like that.

“Parties over,” Mina announced.  “Thank you for the lovely gifts and the wonderful day, but I think after this we need to focus on the road ahead and what we’re going to do about getting these women back.”  She stood up and hurried out of the room after her friend.

 

Later that evening Mina crawled into bed.  Bucky was already asleep, but he woke up the minute he felt the bed dip under Mina’s weight.  He rolled over and looked at her in the dark. “How is she?”

“Not good,” Mina said quietly.  “She’s happy that he’s alive, but she’s afraid of what we’ll face when we go to fight them.  She’s worried that he’ll come for her and there’s nothing she’ll be able to do to save him.”

Bucky pressed a kiss to her forehead.  “I’m sorry your birthday was ruined.”

“It wasn’t ruined, I still had a lovely day.  This morning and most of the afternoon was perfect, but those photos were the kind of reminder and motivation I think we all needed to get our asses into gear to put a stop to all of this.”

“You’re right, it was.  The girls all went to the conference room and started to plot after you left.  Tony, Sam, Rhodey, and Peter all went to the surveillance room to see if there was any way we could get some surveillance on them.”

“What did the others do?”

“Tried to be useful in any way we could,” he told her.  “Sam’s going to send his Red Wing drones to the island and see if they can pick up anything before they’re discovered.  It’s the best we can do for right now.”

“We need someone on the inside though,” she said in frustration.

“That’s not gonna be possible, doll,” he said.  “They would know. None of us would be able to get in.”

“I would,” she said quietly.

“No,” he said sternly.  “They would wipe your mind again and I’m not going through that.  I don’t want to see you like that ever again.”

“What if they didn’t know I was there until it was too late?  I know the layout of the place, I lived there for several months.  I know where everything is. And if I was captured you would just save me again.  I know you won’t let them hold me hostage.”

“Mina that is not an option on the table, please don’t bring it up again,” his tone was stern, but she wasn’t going to stop pressing this issue.

“Bucky, think about this logically we need someone on the inside, we need information and this is the best way to get it.”

“And that someone will not be you!”  He sat up and got out of bed. He began to pace in front of their bed.  “I told you before that I was not watching you go through that again. You don’t have to be the hero all the time.”

“But this is my fault!”  The words tumbled out before she could stop them.  For months now she felt like this was all her fault.  If she had been a stronger baby while her mother was pregnant with her then Shinsky never would have experimented on her.  Her other powers would have never surfaced, and who knows if they would have been able to perfect the serum to make the Sirens.

Bucky paused, “Mina is that how you feel?”  

She couldn’t look at him as she nodded her head.  “Amara and the others would have normal lives, those women that were taken would still be with their families.  If I had just been a stronger baby.”

Bucky rushed over and pulled her into his arms, “Oh doll, no.  It’s not your fault.”

“Today when they were praising me, thanking me for saving them all I could think was how it was my fault that they’re even in this mess in the first place.  All because I had to have these stupid powers.”

“Mina none of this is your fault.  It started with HYDRA long before you were even born.  They were the ones that started these serums. They were the ones that teamed up with The Enclave.  This has nothing to do with you. You don’t have to atone for anything.”

She clung to him, “I can’t help it.  I feel like this is all my fault.”

He held her tighter, “Try not to blame yourself, and just know we are not sending you back there.  I’m sorry to say, but that is the most idiotic idea you’ve ever had. And we’re not going to do it.  End of discussion.”

“You’re so bossy,” she said with a sigh.

“I’m trying to keep you safe, and I’m trying to make sure The Enclave can never run experiments on you again.  They can already create Enhanced individuals and who knows what else they can do. I’m not risking it. Watching you walk away with that Siren that day nearly killed me because you felt like there was no other option.  This time we don’t have a gun to our heads, we have other ways out of this. Let’s just see what Wilson can get and go from there, okay?”

“Okay,” she relented.

He covered them up again and whispered a soft goodnight before falling asleep.  Mina, on the other hand, laid away for hours trying to formulate a plan in her head.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so excited that we're on book number four. I swear this series has just flown by, I love working on it throughout my day. Right now after this one there is only one more planned, and possibly a spin-off. But I have to wait and see how book five goes before deciding whether this series will be over after that or not. I mean I can't imagine not writing about Bucky and Mina, it's definitely going to be weird.


	3. Chapter 3

The team assembled in the conference room to watch as Sam maneuvered one of his Red Wing drones toward The Enclave’s headquarters.  Mina was holding her breath as she watched the drone fly through the clouds and descend toward the ground. 

Bucky’s hand was gripping hers tightly as they watched the screen together.  Sam was on the other side of Mina and she swore that he didn’t breathe the entire time that he was doing this.  Everyone in the room was tense, some of them spilling into the hall not quite sure whether they wanted to be in the room or not.

Soon the dark blue water of the North Atlantic Ocean, and the rocky shoreline of the island the base was located on.  Mina’s eyes were glued to the place she had called home for seven months. She could remember the first time she had seen it after she had been captured.  

The glass gleamed in the sunlight.  The jets on the runway being worked on by the men and a few of the Sirens.  People walking around having normal conversations with one another. You would think it was a normal lab just viewing it from this distance, but they all knew what lied within.

It took ten minutes before the drone went dark and they could no longer see an aerial view of the base.  Sam tossed the controller and leaned back in his seat, rubbing his face and cursing under his breath.

Mina closed her eyes, she knew that that wasn’t going to work.  None of them had expected it too.

“Well at least we got the aerial view and know what we’re dealing with,” Tony said.  “We’re definitely going to have to take out those jets first We can’t let anyone get off that island.”

“Then you have to worry about the tunnels that run under the island, the ships that are prepared to take them away.  The submarines,” Mina said. “They have other ways of getting off the island in case of an attack.”

“She’s right,” San-ha stepped forward and rested her hands on the back of Mina’s chair.  “We start with the boats and subs. Plant explosives, cut them off that way. Then we deal with the jets.”

“We do this at night,” Steve said.  “It’ll add some cover to us and make it more confusing for them.  Especially if all their transportations have been taken out. They’ll be sitting ducks on that island.”

“Contact Thor,” Mina looked over at Tony.  “He’ll be able to help in case someone manages to slip through on a jet and we’re too distracted to notice.”

Tony nodded, “We need all hands on deck for this one, don’t worry we’ve got this covered.”  He began to text on his phone. “Nat, call Clint, we’ll need him too.”

“He’s already been alerted.”

“Banner, me and you are going to be working on explosives that can take out their subs and ships.”  Tony stood up. “Let’s get to work.”

Mina led the other Sirens to the gym where they were practicing using their abilities on Natasha, Bucky, and Steve.  Amara was absent from today’s training session, as she had been since Mina’s birthday three days prior. 

Mina knew she needed time, but she also knew that it wasn’t healthy for her to hole herself up in her room like this.  She watched as the girls made Steve and Natasha dance the salsa, and made Bucky speak Russian, her mind wandering to what Amara was doing at this moment.  

She tried to call out pointers, when to pull back and when to use more of their influence.  It depended on the person and how strong their will was. The stronger the will the more the Sirens would have to pour into their influence.

That’s why she had asked Steve and Natasha to be here for training.  Bucky had volunteered to help out because he knew he would be one of the harder ones to influence with their abilities.  All three of them had very strong wills, it wasn’t easy for a Siren to overpower them. After a while, Mina noticed the girls were growing tired of using their abilities and told them to go grab some lunch and take a break.  The Sirens broke the connection to the other three and left the gym to find food. Mina walked over and handed their earpieces back to them.

“I swear it’s like waking from a dream that you just can’t remember,” Steve said as he stuck his earpiece in.  “It’s odd.”

Natasha shrugged, “It’s not too bad, but I do hate the fact that they make me give up control over myself even for a brief period of time.”

Bucky clenched and unclenched his fingers, “It’s not a feeling I like I will admit.”

Mina walked over to him and touched his arm, “Bucky if you’re not comfortable with this then just say so.  I won’t make you do this.”

He leaned down and kissed her softly.  “It’s fine doll, I’m all right.” But she could see in his eyes that this was too much for him.

She shook her head, “I’m pulling the plug, you’re done.”

“Doll,” he said in exasperation.

“No,” she said firmly.  “You told me no about me wanting to go back to The Enclave, and this is me telling you no to this.  I have Steve and Nat, and anyone else in the compound. I don’t need you too.”

He sighed, “Stubborn woman.”

She smiled, “Still sure you wanna marry me, soldier?”

He grinned back at her, “Yes, nothing could scare me away from wanting to marry you, doll.”

She came closer to him, wrapping her arms around his waist and just letting him hold her.  Steve and Natasha slowly exited the room to give the two of them some privacy as they just held one another.  “There’s a meteor shower tonight, do you want to watch it with me?”

He smiled, “Of course I do, that’s our thing remember?”

She chuckled, “Just making sure.”

He pulled back and fiddled with the necklace he had given her for her birthday, “She we invite Steve and Nat to our stargazing event tonight or do you want it to just be us?”

“We can invite them,” she said.  “It might be fun to have a double date.”

When Steve and Natasha came back Mina invited them to watch the meteor shower with her and Bucky.  They both happily agreed, excited about the double date for the evening.

The other Sirens returned and this time only Steve and Natasha were used as the guinea pigs.  The other girls tried to be discreet about the curious looks they sent Bucky’s way, but San-ha caught them and told them not to gossip.

After training was over for the day they all grabbed dinner.  San-ha, Delia, Rosa, and Melea making several different dishes.  The other Avengers just stood back and watched as the kitchen was actually used for preparing dinner.

“I told you we used it to prepare food!”  Tony shouted when he saw what the Sirens were doing.  Mina buried her face in Bucky’s chest as she tried to stifle a laugh.  The others looking at Tony like he was crazy. He politely excused himself, wanting to head home to Pepper for the evening and share a meal with her.

That evening Natasha and Steve joined Bucky and Mina on the roof to watch the meteor shower.  Mina lit the fire pit and laid back against Bucky’s chest staring up at the sky. “Okay Rogers,” Mina said.  “You have to tell me all about Bucky’s ex-girlfriends and flings. We’re getting married I need to know who my predecessors were.”

Mina was jostled by the silent laughter coming from Bucky, his body shaking from the silent laughs.  “Doll you know you could just ask me.”

“Nope, you are an unreliable resource.  I need to hear it from the best friend.”

“Well there was this girl in school with red hair and really pretty green eyes.  I can’t remember her name, but she was Bucky’s first official girlfriend. Then there was Susan who was his last high school girlfriend, she was blonde with blue eyes.  And then there was Dot, oh man did he like Dot.”

“Steve, do shut up,” Bucky laughed.

“Oh-ho, so do I have competition with this Dot woman?”  Mina joked. 

“I’m pretty sure she’s dead now, and if she isn’t then she would have to be over a hundred years old, so I think you’re safe.”  He squeezed her tightly.

“Okay so I think I already know the answer to this but has there been anyone since you became James Buchanan Barnes again?”  She was curious to see if there had been anyone else, but she knew that most likely it was only her.

She looked up at him and he gave her a soft sort of look, “It’s only you, doll.”

She smiled at him and Natasha groaned, “The two of you are too sweet, I swear I got like five cavities just looking at you.”

Mina grabbed a pillow and tossed it at Natasha, “Like I don’t notice the sickly sweet moments you and Steve share when you think no one’s looking!”

That got Natasha to blush a little, “Whatever Gaspari, at least we’re discreet about it.”

“Uh-huh,” was all Mina said with a little grin on her face.

Shortly after that the meteor shower started and they all grew silent as they watched the streaks go across the sky.  Each of them watching in awe as the sky was lit up with them. She was glad that they had invited Natasha and Steve to this, it was more fun with them there to share this moment.

Soon Natasha grew sleepy and Steve picked her up in his arms telling them goodnight and disappearing back inside the building.  Mina was playing with Bucky’s hand, her fingers tracing patterns on his palm, the meteors had slowed down but she could still see a few.

“Do you think that if we had met back then that you would like me as much as you do now?”  Her voice was a quiet whisper. This was something she had thought about often.

“I think so.  If I had walked into your parents’ pizza shop and seen you waiting tables I would have made sure I would sit in your booth and try to get your name.  And I’d come back every day for lunch, charming the socks off of you, and finally asking you to go out on a date with me. We would have gone to Coney Island together, probably a double date with Steve.  Then after a certain amount of time I would have worked up the courage to kiss you, until one day I finally asked you to marry me.”

“I wonder what life would be like if you had never been taken by HYDRA and turned into the Winter Soldier and been put on ice for all those years.  I would have never known you, and honestly that’s a scary thought.”

He kissed the top of her head, “Try not to think about that.”  He captured her hand in his. “Are you tired? Do you want to go to bed?”

She shook her head, “I want to stay here a little while longer.”  She snuggled closer to him, her eyes still looking up at the sky, Bucky watching her.  He didn’t want to think of a life where he hadn’t met Mina Gaspari. She was his person, if he believed in soulmates he would say she was his, and not knowing her would be just as painful as all the things HYDRA had made him endure.

He believed everything happened for a reason, and that he was meant to be here in this moment with Mina watching the stars and feeling utterly content with his life and what the years ahead of him had planned for the two of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I went to see Crazy Rich Asians today and it was so good, I highly recommend it. Also there might not be an update tomorrow. I might take longer to update than I have in the past (not a lot I promise not to go weeks without an update) but I really want to get this one right and there's so much to plan for the fifth book, and I have to set it up just right and I don't want to rush through this one. Plus I'll more than likely be really busy tomorrow. But there may be some days where there won't be an update (plus I want to work on my next Bucky Barnes fanfic titled "Blood Moon" coming soon).


	4. Chapter 4

Three weeks had passed since the failed attempt to get any kind of footage from The Enclave’s main base of operations.  Two weeks since they came up with the plan to head to the island themselves and blow up all escape routes.

Thor had arrived and was staying at the compound again.  It was good seeing the tall blonde around again. His easy-going nature lifting the spirits of everyone in his general vicinity.  He even had a few of the Sirens swooning at the sight of him. Mina just chuckled as he smiled at them, completely aware of their reactions to him and loving the attention.

“How’s Loki?”  Mina asked as she lounged on the couch cushions one evening with the others and Thor as they all caught up.  “Is he still enjoying his vacation in England?”

Thor rubbed his chin, “Loki has joined up with Strange learning how their magic works compared to his own.  I think he’s enjoying himself, but I cannot say the same for Strange.”

Everyone knew Loki and Stephen Strange had a rocky sort of relationship since Loki had at one time been seen as a threat, but with his help in defeating Thanos, he had been given a second chance if he promised to not try and take over earth again or any of the countries, cities, towns, and villages that made up the blue and green planet.

He had agreed.  Loki had changed a lot since Thanos.  He just wanted to lead a quiet life amongst others, even though he still held a little bit of a grudge against Stephen for the time he made Loki fall for thirty minutes.  

Thor loved telling that story whenever he was around.

Clint was sitting on the floor in front of the TV, “Come on, he hasn’t tried to do anything mischievous since settling down?  Your brother likes to cause trouble, you can’t just sit here and tell me that he’s behaving himself.”

Thor chuckled, “He is trying not to get on Strange’s bad side.  I think he’s afraid Strange will make him fall again or be trapped in some sort of alternate dimension for who knows how long.  No, Loki is quite all right with how things are now.”

“Hey Tic Tac,” Sam looked over to where Scott was sitting just listening to them all talk.  “When’s Hope getting in?”

Scott took in a deep breath, his eyes cutting over to Sam.  “Tomorrow, she sent me a text earlier to tell me.” He narrowed his eyes at Sam, “Why don’t you call her Tic Tac?  She shrinks just like I do.”

Sam smirked at him, “Because unlike you, Hope is a badass.”

A chorus of ‘ooohs’ went around the room.  “I think I have earned the title of badass,” Scott objected.  “I am now a member of the Avengers which you said wouldn’t happen.”

Sam shrugged, “I’ll give you that, but I’m still calling you Tic Tac.”

“It’s not official unless Tony clears it,” Mina pointed out.  “Thor is Point Break, Steve is Capsicle, Peter is Underoos, I’m Witchy Woman, so Tony is Scott’s official nickname Tic Tac?”

All eyes turned to Tony, “All right, his nickname can be Tic Tac.”

Mina and Sam high fived and Scott pouted, “I would have liked something a little cooler.”

The others merely chuckled at the pouting Scott.  They continued to discuss plans about what they were going to do when they headed to The Enclave’s main base.  Stephen was going to join them, and possibly Loki. Thor said that he had been itching for a good fight.

The team was coming together slowly, and soon it would be time for them to take down The Enclave once and for all.  Mina was looking forward to the day that she could have her life back and not have to worry about the creepy messages from Shinsky anymore.

 

Hope Van Dyne arrived in the late afternoon.  Mina hadn’t had the honor of meeting her yet, but the others had.  They greeted her warmly and hugged her. Mina stood back a bit awkwardly waiting to be introduced to the beautiful brunette in front of her.

Hope came forward and smiled at Mina, “Hello, you must be Mina.  Scott’s told me about you before. It’s nice to officially meet you.”

“You too,” Mina said with a bright smile as the two women shook hands.  “Scott speaks highly of you.”

“Doesn’t he go by Tic Tac now?”  She teased, her eyes darting over to where Scott was standing, his cheeks heating.

“Wilson!”  Scott shouted, sending a death glare Sam’s way.

Sam and the others were chuckling, trying not to seem like they were laughing at Scott.  Scott walked off with a huff, and the women led Hope to the room where she would be staying while she was with the Avengers.  Once they showed her to her room, they left her alone so that she could get settled in peace.

Stephen showed up via portal and had Loki following closely behind him, practically clutching the cape so he wouldn’t get trapped in an in-between place.  Thor and Loki embraced while Stephen said his short hellos before Tony led him off to his room.

Loki walked over to Mina and gave her a hug, “I hear you and Barnes are engaged now.  If I had known you liked older men I would have tried courting you myself.” He flashed her a cheeky grin when he pulled away and she couldn’t help but giggle.

“I specifically remember Thor telling me that you said I was, what was it?  Too young and naive?” She flashed him her own cheeky smile.

“Touche my dear,” he placed a kiss on her knuckles, looking at something over her shoulder and backing away slowly to see who else he could tease.

She felt Bucky’s hand slip into her back pocket, something he liked to do now, and leaned down to whisper, “Was he just flirting with you?”

“You bet he was, you’ve got some competition,” she joked.  “Since I seem to have a thing for older men maybe a thousand year old god is more my speed.”

“Tease,” he whispered as he nipped at her ear.

“Takes one to know one,” she winked at him before sauntering off down the hall toward the kitchen where the other Sirens were once again preparing dinner.  She was determined to help them this time, especially now that there were more people living in the compound.

She felt his eyes on her the entire time she sauntered down the hall, swaying her hips more than usual.

Steve walked over and wrapped his arm around Bucky’s shoulders, “Stop drooling over her.”

Bucky playfully shoved Steve, “Shut it punk.”

“Boys, no roughhousing in the hall, we have a gym for that sort of thing,” Natasha said with a smirk.  “Now if you’ll excuse me I’m going to go help the ladies out in the kitchen.” Natasha began walking away much like Mina had causing Steve to stare after her with a lustful look.

“Now who’s the one drooling?”  Bucky asked with a laugh as Steve’s cheeks heated.

 

“Loki will cast an illusion over everything making it seem like everything is fine,” Tony was saying the next day after they had all gathered for the meeting.  “Hope and Scott will be waiting at the entrance to the tunnels capturing whoever comes through there. Stephen and I will work on the ships and subs in the harbor.  Bruce, Natasha, and Pietro will take care of the jets. Everyone else head inside and cause some havoc.”

“Shuri is sending over some new vibranium suits for the ones who don’t have them as an added precaution,” Mina began to say.  “The guards have guns and they will shoot at whatever isn’t on their side. Especially if you get close to any of the scientists.”

Bruce held up several of the earpieces, “We also modified the earpieces that block out a Sirens’ abilities.  We know they work with one Siren, but we upgraded them in hopes that it would work against multiple Sirens. We’re running tests later today to see how well they work.”

Hope leaned forward in her seat, “What about the new experimentations that you said they had been working on?  Do you know if they succeeded in recreating Mina’s powers?”

“That we don’t know,” Tony told her.  “None of the Sirens we rescued knew either, they had all been in the field for an extended period of time, and didn’t even know that Shinsky was trying to recreate Mina’s powers.”

“It’s true,” San-ha said.  “They asked us when we were back to our normal selves.  We had never even heard of Shinksy doing these kinds of experiments on Mina.”

A hush fell over the room.  Amara, who had joined them a bit reluctantly, said, “We do know that they do have Enhanced individuals like Wanda and Pietro.  One man by the name of Varun has speed like Pietro. He could have other abilities we just don’t know.”

“We want to try and refrain from hurting the Enhanced individuals because they could be victims just as much as the Sirens,” Mina emphasized as she looked at her friend.  Amara shot her a grateful look.

“Is there anything else we should know?”  Loki asked from his spot at the table. “Anything we should be aware of as we go into this?”

“Not at the current moment,” Tony replied.  “We’ve told you all everything that we know.”

“When is this mission set to happen?”  Stephen asked.

“Within the next few weeks,” Bruce responded.  “We wanted to make sure the earpieces were ready to go and would withstand the powers coming from multiple Sirens.  We don’t want anyone to fall under their spell. Trust me it’s not a pleasant feeling not being in control of your own body.”

Bucky, Steve, Natasha, and Clint all agreed with that statement.  “I have a question,” Stephen said. He looked at Mina, “Can other Sirens control other Sirens?”

He and the girls looked at one another and then she looked back at Stephen, “We were always told that we couldn’t.  When Caterina captured me she didn’t use her powers against me. Of course she had an ace in the hole with being able to control my friends and Bucky.”

“Have you considered trying to use your powers on them?”  He quirked an eyebrow.

“Not really, but that is a good point.  If they can control us then we need to have earpieces as well so we don’t fall prey to that.  Especially if Shinsky and the others are upping their game and trying to find ways to make the Sirens more powerful.”

“Get on that immediately,” Tony told her.  “I need advanced notice so I can prep earpieces for you all.”

“Will do,” she told him.

“Meeting is adjourned.  We’ll meet again to go over any last minute details before we launch our attack.”

They all filed out of the room.  Hope followed Mina and the Sirens to the gym where they were going to practice using their abilities on each other to see if they worked or not.  She was curious about the powers they had.

Bucky went with them curious as well to see if Mina and the others would be affected.  He sat with Hope on the sidelines and told her about Mina. “She’s been through a lot in the past year,” he didn’t take his eyes off of her.  So far none of them fell prey to the commands of the others. “Finding out that she had been experimented on, and then being captured. She’s been strong throughout it all.”

Hope looked away from the scene before her and looked at Bucky who was smiling at Mina.  “She’s lucky she has you, James.”

He looked away, “More like I’m lucky to have her.”

Hope gave him a soft smile, “The both of you are lucky to have each other.”

Bucky turned his attention back to Mina, “So what about you and Scott?”

Hope cleared her throat, “We have an unusual relationship.”

“Uh-huh, sure.  You know Scott kisses and tells, right?”  That made Hope laugh. “I’m serious, the man doesn’t shut up about you whenever one of us brings you up.  At this point Tony has initiated the no Hope talk protocol. We can’t even say the word Hope without Scott popping up and talking about you.”

“Poor you,” Hope said.

Bucky chuckled, “Okay so maybe I over exaggerated, but for the most part what I said is true.  He does think the world of you. He misses you when he’s away.”

“I miss him too,” Hope said quietly.

Their conversation died down after that.  The girls finished what they were doing and informed Hope and Bucky that they, in fact, could not use their powers against one another, but as an added precaution they would tell Tony and Bruce to make earpieces for them.  San-ha broke off from the group to deliver the news while the rest hung back to talk with Hope. Each of them curious about what she could do.

Bucky and Mina took their moment of distraction to slip out of the room unnoticed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I have most of the next chapter written which will be up tomorrow. But I'm thinking about updating every Tuesdays and Fridays from now on. That way I update twice a week. What do you all think? Would you mind me going on a schedule?


	5. Chapter 5

T’Challa landed at the compound two days later with Shuri following along behind him while Okoye and several of the Dora Milaje disembarked the jet as well.  Mina rushed to hug Okoye and Ayo. She missed her friends.

“I’m so glad you all were able to come!  Do you need any help?” She noticed they were toting several trunks on wheels out of the jet.  She knew that the trunks must have been the new suits and tech Shuri had made for them.

“We’re fine Little Panther, but thank you for the offer,” T’Challa smiled kindly at her.  “Just show us to our rooms, and give us the rundown on everything that we’ve missed.”

Peter came rushing out, Tony had held him up in a meeting on purpose so he wouldn’t be there when Shuri arrived.  The poor kid had been practically bouncing off the walls trying to get to his friend. “Shuri!”

“Peter!”  The two of them embraced.  “Did you get my email about the problem you were having with that computer?”  The two of them started heading inside their heads bent together as they talked.

“Well I guess I’m chopped liver to them now,” Mina said with a dramatic sniff.  “I’ve been replaced.”

“You’ll always have me, Little Panther,” he smiled and patted her back, the two of them walking at a much slower pace.  “And where is that lovely fiancé of yours? Is he too good to come see an old friend arrive?”

Mina laughed, “Bucky is currently in the med bay with Bruce.  He and Steve were sparing earlier and they got a little too rough with one another.  Steve might have broken one of Bucky’s ribs.”

“Oh forget taking me to my room, I have to go see Bucky first.”  There was a glint in his eyes that said there was no way he was going to pass up seeing the super soldier in the med bay.

Mina waved Wanda over, “Hey can you take the others up to their rooms.  T’Challa wants to go see Bucky.”

She smiled, “Sure thing.”

T’Challa and Mina continued their journey down the halls toward the med bay where Bucky was sitting on one of the tables waiting for his ribs to heal.  Steve was there apologizing profusely. “Buck, I am so sorry. I didn’t even realize I hit you that hard.”

Bucky was laughing at his friend, “Steve, it’s fine.  I know you didn’t mean to break one of my bones.”

“I’m still really sorry Bucky.”

“I hear someone was injured today,” T’Challa said as he stepped into the room.  “You really must be careful Bucky.”

A smile lit up Bucky’s face, “Hey T’Challa, come to tease me like my fiancée was earlier?”

Mina smirked, “Your age is the one thing I have to tease you about.  You’re a good cook, sweet, funny, and a bunch of other things. I at least get to tease you about your age.”  She pecked him on the cheek, “Plus you know I don’t mean anything by it.”

“Mm-hmm, but you still have to put a dollar in the jar.”

She huffed, “Fine.”

“What jar are we talking about?”  T’Challa asked in confusion.

“It’s something the two fossils here,” she smacked Bucky on the leg when he nudged her.  “Yes! All right two dollars!” She shook her head and turned back to T’Challa. “It’s something these two came up with when we all ganged up on them about their age.  Every time someone, with the exception of Loki and Thor, makes a comment about them being older we have to put a dollar in the jar. At the end of each month these two divide the earnings.”  

“Ah I should do something like that with Shuri every time she makes a Vine reference that I don’t understand,” he rubbed his chin thoughtfully.  “Tell me more about this jar.”

“Don’t you dare,” Mina warned the two super soldiers.  “If it gets back to her that I gave him the idea for the jar she’ll kill me.”

“Okay, we’ll just tell him when you’re not around,” Steve teased.

“Whatever,” she mumbled.

Bruce came back into the med bay and greeted T’Challa before turning to Bucky.  “Let me take another x-ray to see how your bone’s looking and then I’ll let you go.”  Bruce shooed everyone out of the room and took a couple of x-rays, checking them and then telling Bucky he could go, but would probably be sore for a few more hours.

“All good?”  Mina asked as he stepped out of the med bay.

“All good,” he parroted.  “Just have to take it easy for a few more hours.”

“Hey maybe T’Challa will defend your honor and break a few of Steve’s bones for you,” Mina joked.

“It would be my honor,” T’Challa laughed.

“Yeah, let’s not.  Broken bones still hurt whether they heal quickly or not,” Steve said as he took a few steps away from them.

Tony stepped out of his office and noticed the four of them coming his way.  “Good to see you made it all right T’Challa.” The two men shook hands. “Hope the trip was comfortable.”

“As it always is,” T’Challa responded.  “Thank you for housing me, my sister, and several of the Dora Milaje while we’re here.”

“Of course, you’re a member of this team too, and it’s the least we could do after you agreed to help us with this attack on The Enclave.”  Tony slid on a pair of his sunglasses. “Now if you’ll excuse me, Pepper wants to have dinner with me tonight and I do not want to be late. I will see you all tomorrow.  Bright and early!”

“Keep telling yourself that Tony,” Mina called after him.

He turned around and started to walk backward, “I will have F.R.I.D.A.Y. wake you up at six!”

Mina pouted, “You’re a cruel man Tony Stark.”

“I know,” he waved goodbye and disappeared around a corner.

Steve, Bucky, and Mina showed T’Challa to his room and left him alone.  The three of them headed down to the common room where the Dora Milaje had set up shop with Shuri and Peter as they went through the boxes.  

“You do know we have a conference room and countless other rooms where you can do this right?”  Mina asked as she stepped over to one of the open trunks and peered inside.

“We do,” Peter responded.  “But it’s just so much more comfortable in here.”

“What’d you bring us this time Shuri?”  Steve stepped over to where she and Peter were standing.  

“I brought you this,” she handed him a pendant with a miniature version of his shield on it.  “Your suit is inside it. Try it.”

Steve put the necklace over his head and tapped the pendant.  It immediately activated the suit lying within. And soon Steve was fully in his suit.  “Wow, don’t tell Mr. Stark, but that’s cooler than his nanotech.”

“You do realize we’re in a room where there are video cameras.  He can easily access this and hear what you just said,” Mina pointed out.

“Shit,” Peter looked up at the ceiling trying to locate the hidden cameras.  “Sorry, Mr. Stark.”

She pulled Peter into a headlock and squeezed, “I’ll be sure to tell Tony tomorrow when he gets in that you think his tech sucks.”

“No!”  Peter cried in dismay.

She released him and ruffled his head, “Don’t worry kid, I won’t tell him anything, I’m just yanking your chain.”

He let out a relieved breath, “Good.”

Okoye walked over to Mina and said, “All right, let me see it.  I want to see the ring this idiot managed to pick out,” she grinned at Bucky who made a face at her.

Mina held out her hand and the others gathered around to peer at the ring.  “It’s beautiful,” Ayo said with a smile. “I approve Barnes.”

“Thank you, Ayo.”  He grinned shyly at the women before him.  He felt Mina slip her free hand into hers and he gently squeezed it.  “It was an easy decision once I saw it. It just screamed her. Simple, elegant, and beautiful,” he dropped a kiss on the top of her head and leaned his head against hers, smiling like an idiot.

He heard the women sigh that dreamy sort of sigh.  “Who knew you were such a romantic Barnes,” Okoye teased.

He pulled away from Mina and smiled back at Okoye, “I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeves.”

“Hold onto this Mina,” Okoye told her.

“Oh I plan to,” she smiled up at Bucky.

“Okay you two are worse than Peter when he’s going on and on about his crush.  Poor F.R.I.D.A.Y. already has to deal with a lovesick teenager, don’t make her deal with two lovesick adults.”  Tony had stepped into the room, ready to greet the rest of the members of T'Challa's retinue. Instead, he found a mushy scene happening before his eyes.  Peter complained, but a look from Tony had him mutter, ‘sorry Mr. Stark’.

“Oh hush,” Okoye said.  “It’s sweet.”

T’Challa walked over and greeted Tony with a one-armed bro hug, the sight of that made Mina grin.  She was happy to see everyone so comfortable around each other like this. They were a team, but they were also a family.

T’Challa and Tony walked out of the room together.  Shuri and Peter stayed behind and handed out some new gear to Mina and Bucky.  Shuri had upgraded Mina’s suit just like she had for Steve. Her pendant was a conch shell.  Shuri said since she was a Siren she wanted to do a connection to the ocean that didn’t involve a fishtail, and the conch shell was a safe bet.

Bucky received a wolf head for his.  He was also gifted a new knife set and a gun that could only be fired by him.  “I also took the liberty of making you a matching knife set.” She handed over the delicately crafted vibranium knives.  “They’re smaller to fit your grip obviously.”

Mina tossed one in the air and caught it, “I love them.”  She looked up at Bucky, “Some couples have matching tattoos, others have couple outfits, we on the other hand have matching knives.”

“We’re an odd couple, what can I say?”

“Here are the thigh holsters for them,” Shuri passed them along.

Mina attached them to her thighs before sliding the knives into them.  She modeled them for Bucky, “So what do you think?”

“They look good,” he reached out and tightened one of the straps, his hand lingering on her thigh.  

“Ugh they’re gonna get inappropriate in a minute,” Peter said.

“Come here you little punk,” Mina lunged for him, but Peter was too quick and dashed out of the way.  “I’m going to get you, Peter Parker!”

“Think of Aunt May!”  Peter shouted as everyone laughed at the two of them.  “She’ll be devastated!  I'm all she has left!” Mina tackled Peter to the floor and began tickling him.  “Stop!” Peter shouted between gasps of breath and laughing. “I give! I give!”

Mina relented and helped him off the floor, “Now what are we never going to do again?”

“What I just said,” he looked down sheepishly.  

She patted his head, “Good boy.”

She turned around and when she did Peter hopped onto her back.  “To the kitchen my trusty steed!” Mina just chuckled and began carrying Peter off with the rest of them trailing behind the two of them as Peter made more horse jokes, and Mina threatened to drop him on the floor.

Shuri hopped on Bucky’s back and challenged Mina and Peter to a race to see who could get to the kitchen first.  “Oh it’s on like Donkey Kong,” Mina said. “What does the winner get?”

“Treated to their favorite dinner for the evening,” Bucky said.

“Deal,” Mina and Peter said at the same time.  “Okoye,” Peter called out. “Can you be the judge?”

“It would be my honor.”  Okoye headed down the hall toward where the kitchen doors were waiting.  “Ready!” Mina and Bucky got into position, both of them grinning. “Set!”  Peter held on a bit tighter. “Go!” Mina and Bucky took off.

It was a close call, but Bucky and Shuri won.  Mina shook her head, “Okay, but his legs are longer than mine.”

“Uh-huh keep telling yourself that doll,” Bucky grinned.  

“Just for that I’m burning the stuffed shells.”  Bucky followed along behind her apologizing and begging her not to burn the stuffed shells as Shuri and Peter biggered over what he could and could not make for her.

In the end Mina didn’t burn the shells, and Peter made grilled cheeses because it was the only thing he could make without burning it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I think I'm going to start updating every Tuesdays and Fridays. I might post more than that it just depends on how much I manage to get written, but I need the schedule because I've become a lot busier and plus I'm going on vacation next month and I'm trying to get everything in order before I leave.


	6. Chapter 6

The Avengers were taking four different jets to the Enclave's headquarters.  T’Challa and the Dora Milaje were going in the jet they had arrived in.  Mina was in the jet with Bucky, Steve, Tony, Natasha, Bruce, Scott, Hope, and Clint.  Wanda, Pietro, Loki, Thor, Stephen, and Peter were in the third jet. Then the Sirens were in the last jet.

They were currently approaching the island, all of them feeling the butterflies in their stomachs as they mentally prepared themselves for what was about to happen.  Hope and Scott were going to be the first two let out of the jet followed by Mina.  Hope and Scott were covering the tunnel exit, making sure no one managed to slip through unnoticed there.

“You ready?”  Tony looked at Scott and Hope as he opened the hatch to let them out.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Scott said.  Scott looked like he was ready to throw up, but Hope looked ready to go.

“We’ll be fine,” Hope said as she did a last minute run through on her suit making sure everything was running as it should be.  She grabbed Scott and tugged him to the hatch. The two of them shrug and were gone in a matter of seconds. “Two down.” The hatch closed and they moved closer to the base.  “Mina, you’re next.”

The hatch opened again and she walked to the edge peering down to the darkness below, she could just make out of the roof of the building.  She glanced back at them, giving them a two finger salute.  “See you on the inside.” She turned back around and leapt from the jet.  Her powers slowing her fall as she gently landed on the roof. She walked to the edge and peered down.  Loki’s illusion was holding up under the cover of darkness. The guards hadn’t been alerted to their presence yet.

She turned and headed inside.  The buildings upper floors were silent and well lit.  Most of the Sirens would be in bed by this hour. She moved along the walls until she came to the first room.  It was Morgan’s room. She had spent several nights here when she had first arrived. She had considered the girl a friend, she had considered most of the girls friends.

She pressed the button on the door and watched it slide open slowly.  The room was dark, she could hear Morgan’s soft, even breathing as she moved closer to the bed.  Morgan was laying there with her hand resting on her pillow, her eyes shut, chest rising and falling evenly.

Mina opened one of the pockets on her suit and pulled out the bracelet, it was an upgraded version of the one they had used on her before her memories came back.  She stepped closer to the bed her heart hammering. Ever so gently she attached the bracelet to Morgan’s wrist, and as soon as it was locked in place her eyes shot open.

She stared up at Mina, but she could see her.  “Show yourself.” She was trying to use her powers, but nothing was working.  She looked at the bracelet, “What the hell?!”

Mina pulled out a syringe and stuck it in Morgan’s arm, becoming visible so the other girl could see her.  “Sorry Morgan, but trust me, you’ll thank me later.”

Morgan went to say or scream something, but her eyes started to droop and she was asleep once more.  Mina became invisible again and moved onto the next room doing the same thing to the next Siren she came across.

She had fitted the bracelets to at least twelve of the girls before the alarms started to blare.  Red lights began flashing. “Mina, report,” she heard Tony say. 

“I only got twelve of them done.  What the hell happened?” She entered the hallway, several guards were heading her way.

“They have heat sensors, they picked you up after you tripped an alarm.  Get out of there.”

“Not an option,” she said as she became visible.  She grinned at the guards, “Miss me, boys?” They raised their guns, but she was quicker and she rushed forward, throwing out her fire, and kicking the feet out from under a few of them.

She rammed one of the guard’s head into the wall, turning as soon as he was crumbling against the floor.  Her suit was blocking most of the bullets being fired at her. She realized that they weren’t regular bullets, they were tranquilizer darts.  They weren’t looking to kill, they were looking to capture.

Mina rushed the next guy, jumping up and wrapping her legs around his neck, pulling a classic Natasha move.  She managed to get him on the floor and took his gun from him. Turning she began firing rounds at the others that were still standing.  They crumpled to the floor.

The doors to the Sirens’ rooms that she hadn’t managed to get to began to open and she cursed as she met the gazes of several pissed off Sirens.

“I need backup on the fifth floor.  Hurry.”

“On my way,” she heard Bucky say.

 

Bucky and Steve exited the jet as soon as Tony landed.  Steve with his shield at the ready, Bucky holding a gun loaded with bullets meant to stun rather than kill.  Loki’s illusion was working perfectly, they were going unnoticed.

“Ten o’clock,” Steve told Bucky.

Bucky turned and fired the gun, the guard dropped to the ground with a thud.  Two more guards came forward, calling out the other guard’s name. Bucky took them out as well.

Once they were sure the area was clear they headed for the entrance that would lead them through the back of the building, toward the surveillance room.  The radio was silent as others worked quickly and efficiently on doing their assigned tasks.

Bucky’s mind wandered as he thought about Mina several floors above him fulfilling her task.  He wondered how that was going and if she was all right. Of course she was all right, she would have alerted them if something was wrong.

Steve and Bucky rounded the corner and found a guard on patrol duty.  Bucky shot him, and Steve rushed over to put cuffs and a gag on him before storing him in one of the supply closets so he wouldn’t be noticed.

They continued their journey.  “We’re almost there,” Steve informed his friend.  “Just make a left up here and then three doors down.”

They had almost made it when alarms started to blare.  Bucky cursed, “Did we set off an alarm?”

“No Mina did,” Tony responded.  “They put in heat signatures upstairs, something the others weren’t aware of.  They knew we’d go for the Sirens first.”

“I need backup on the fifth floor.  Hurry,” Mina sounded a little winded and Bucky wondered what had happened. 

“I’m on my way,” Bucky turned and headed for a door that was marked as stairs.  “Steve, you got this?” He glanced back at his friend.

“Go, help Mina!”

Bucky pushed up the stairs, his heart hammering in his chest.  As he slammed through the door to the fifth floor he heard Mina groaning in pain.  He rounded a corner and saw two of the Sirens holding her in place as one took shots at her.  

Without hesitating Bucky raised his gun and fired.  Mina slumped to the floor, spitting the blood from her mouth all over the floor.  She looked up at the rest of the Sirens. Her eyes taking on the turquoise glow they did when her powers were overflowing.

“You’re going to regret doing that,” her voice deathly calm.

Several of the Sirens had the good sense to look scared and started backing away from them.  Mina stalked forward with lethal grace, her hands bursting into flames, the turquoise fire crawling up her arms.

Bucky took aim and began firing at the ones who were heading for the exit at the other end of the hall.  Each of them falling down like dominoes as he fired the gun. Mina on the other hand was shoving girls up against the walls, slapping the silver bracelets on them, and using her powers to hold the others in place.  Some of them slumping to the floor, passing out from the chokehold she had on them.

When the last one was down and they were all wearing bracelets Mina’s flames disappeared and her eyes returned to their normal color.  She turned to Bucky, “Caterina is missing.”

Bucky walked toward her, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a handkerchief so he could wipe the blood away from her face.  She was going to have some bruises and be in pain for a while, but she looked all right for the most part. “We’ll find her.” He pulled her in for a hug, “Sorry I wasn’t here sooner.”

“It’s okay Buck,” she murmured.  “Come on, the others probably need our help.”

They were heading back down to one of the lower floors when Shinsky’s voice came over the loudspeakers.  “Welcome home my darling Siren Song.” Mina froze, every hair on her body standing to attention. She felt like she couldn’t breathe, her suit becoming too tight.  Bucky reached out and took her hand to let her know he was here with her and he wasn’t going to let anything happen to her this time. “I see you managed to take down most of your sisters.  You’ve become so much stronger, and I’m so proud of you.”

“What do you want?!”  She screamed, her voice echoing in the empty stairwell.

“To tell you that you’ve failed in your latest mission to put a stop to me and the others.  We aren’t even here. We assumed that you and your precious Avengers would try something. Clever little plan my darling Siren Song.  So predictable too.”

“It was worth a shot if it meant you’d sick, twisted bastards would be locked behind bars for the rest of your life.”

“Planning on visiting me when I’m locked away as you so stubbornly assume I will be?”  Bucky and Mina could practically see his condescending smile. “Try harder my Siren Song if you wish to win this battle.  We won’t go down so easily. We have other bases that you don’t know about. Allies in places that you wouldn’t expect. If you think HYDRA was done and over with you were sadly mistaken.  They’re still around just like we are. And they want their Winter Soldier back.”

Mina looked up at Bucky who had gone still, his eyes wide.  “You’re lying,” he spat out once he had recovered from the initial shock.  “They disappeared when S.H.I.E.L.D. went down.”

“Did they?”  Shinsky chuckled.  “Or have they been lying in wait?”  Someone said something to Shinsky. “I must go my Siren Song and her Winter Soldier.  I look forward to seeing the two of you again, and this time we’re not going to let you go.”

The stairwell was empty again.  Mina turned to Bucky and cupped his cheek, “He was lying.  He’s just trying to get to you. The Avengers took down the remnants of HYDRA.  They can’t hurt you anymore.”

He took her hands in his, “But what if he’s not lying?  We both know that HYDRA and The Enclave worked closely together.  They could still be around today. We just don’t know.” He turned his head and kissed her palm before he walked past her down to the first floor.

Mina stood there for a minute trying to process everything they had just heard.  What Shinsky had told them. Could HYDRA really be back?

No, that was crazy.  Steve and the others said that they had taken care of HYDRA.

She chased after Bucky who was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs, that same grim look on his face.  Neither of them said anything as they pushed through the door and into the hallway where Bucky had left Steve.

Steve was coming out of the surveillance room with Natasha.  “We tried figuring out where the signal was coming from,” Steve told them.  “But we couldn’t find anything.”

Natasha nodded, “They know how to cover their tracks.  But don’t worry we’ll get to the bottom of this. There’s only so many places they can hide.  And we all know Shinsky was lying about HYDRA.”

“Do we?”  Bucky said before he pushed forward down the rest of the hall leaving the three of them staring after him.

Steve went to go after his friend, but Mina reached out and stopped him.  “Let him process this, don’t crowd him.” Steve nodded, she was right. Bucky needed his space at the moment, crowding him wasn’t going to do any good.  It killed the both of them to see him like this though, both feeling helpless to do anything for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope y'all don't mind the new schedule, but this is gonna work out great because I'm already on chapter nine and I'm feeling a little more confident about them now that I'm not posting every day. Also if you haven't read it yet I added a short story based on Mina and Bucky in the 1940s. This is gonna become a little miniseries in the Extras.  
> Also it’s late but I couldn’t wait until later to update lol.


	7. Chapter 7

Everyone met on the runway of The Enclave’s headquarters after rounding up the Sirens and fallen guards.  Scott and Hope would be taking the guards to D.C. where they would be tried for their crimes and locked up for the rest of their lives.

The others, however, would be taking the Sirens to Wakanda so Shuri could help them remember who they were.  

Several of them had woken up and were glaring at the Avengers.  They kept their mouths shut, not daring to speak to anyone. Loyal to the end.  They would rather die than say anything about their mission or Shinsky.

One Siren that Mina didn’t know the name to looked at her with hate-filled eyes.  “How could you turn against your sisters like this? How could you side with the Avengers?  They want to stop all the good we’re trying to do.”

“Serena,” Helena snapped at the other girl.  “Enough.”

The Serena girl glared at Helena, “Well it’s the truth!  She’s a traitor to us! She deserves whatever Shinsky has planned for her.”

“All right,” Steve pulled her up on her feet.  “You’re riding with me, ma’am.”

She struggled against his grip, “Stop touching me!”  

He continued to maneuver her toward the jet she would be riding in.  T’Challa walked over to Mina and placed a hand on her arm, “How are you holding up Little Panther?”

“Oh I’m just peachy,” she gave him an unconvincing grin.  “Just heard from the man who turned me into a Siren, and now has Bucky worried that HYDRA is back.  Things could be a lot better.”

“Well at least this mission was not a total loss,” he told her.  “Try to look on the brighter side of things.”

She nodded, “You’re right, we did save these women even if they don’t see it that way right now.  Is Shuri ready to take them in?”

T’Challa nodded, “I just got off the phone with her and she is preparing her lab for multiple people.”

Amara came walking over, she was grim faced, “He wasn’t here.”

Mina pulled her friend in for a hug, “I’m sorry Amara, we’ll find him.”

“I was so hoping this would all be over after tonight.  That we could take Varun to Wakanda, help him deal with all this, and then we could go back to our lives before Shinsky messed them all up.  I’m just so tired,” she sobbed.

“I know, I thought that tonight would be the end of this too, that we would get everyone back and that would be that.  We could move on. But we have to play with the hand we’re dealt, and this setback doesn’t mean that you won’t have that happily ever after with Varun.  We’re going to finish this, and we’re going to finish it soon.”

Mina felt Amara nod, “You’re right.  We will. We have more Sirens now. The other Avengers are going to help us.  We can do this.”

“That’s the spirit,” Mina pulled away and wiped Amara’s tears away with her thumbs.  “Come on, let’s help get the others loaded onto the jet so we can get out of here.”

They helped load the remaining Sirens onto the jet and they headed for Wakanda.  Mina and Amara stayed with the Sirens along with San-ha and a few of the other girls.  Each of them anxious to see what was going to happen.

After they woke up they would go through a series of lie detector tests to make sure that they weren’t still loyal to The Enclave.  It was going to be a long day, but hopefully once it was all over they would have more information and a possible location for Shinsky and the others.

 

Bucky was sitting in his and Mina’s room, his head hung as he thought back to what Shinsky had said back at The Enclave’s former headquarters.  He tried telling himself that it wasn’t true, but he knew that Shinsky hadn’t been lying. He had figured HYDRA was going to try and make a dramatic comeback at some point. 

They weren’t going to be easy to take down, and that scared Bucky.

It scared him that he could possibly put his loved ones in harm's way.  That he could hurt Mina. It killed him that they even had to deal with this now.  Why couldn’t they have a moment’s peace to just be them? To have a moment of bliss before the next problem showed itself?

The door to their room opened and Mina stepped inside.  Bucky noted the dark circles under her eyes, the way she looked tired but forced a smile to her face when she saw he was still up.  She was trying to be strong for his sake, and that made him feel guilty.

“Hey,” she walked over and stood before him, her fingers automatically running through his hair.  He closed his eyes letting himself be lost in the feeling of her nails lightly scraping his scalp.  “You should be asleep.”

He took her free hand and brought it to her lips, “So should you.”

She sat down on his lap and rested her head on his shoulder, “I am, I just had to make sure the others made it out of the procedure okay, and now I’m going to go take a long bath and soak my sore muscles before crawling into this big bed with my fiance and sleeping for the next ten years.”

Guilt sliced through Bucky again, he was so worried about his own problems that he forgot what she had been through tonight.  He picked her up, “Well then let’s get you in that tub so you can sleep for ten years.”

She hummed in content, “You’re so good to me, Bucky.”

His step faltered, but Mina didn’t notice.  He set her down on the edge of the tub and began filling it with water and bubbles.  The aroma of roses filled the room and Mina sighed in happiness. Once the tub was filled with water Bucky pulled Mina to her feet.

His hand tapped the pendant and Mina’s suit disappeared.  He pulled it over her head and laid it on the sink, and then turned back to her.  She was leaning against the wall for support. “I think I could fall asleep right here.”

He chuckled, “Well we don’t want that doll.”  He helped her into the tub and grabbed a washcloth from under the sink and got it wet in the water.  He started with her face wiping away the blood and sweat that was left. He slowly worked his way down her body, cleaning every inch.  Mina’s eyes had fallen shut and he was pretty sure she was asleep. When he was done he gently nudged her, “Doll? Come on wake up I have to dry you off and get you into some clean clothes.”

She groaned, “Don’t wanna move.”

“I know doll, but you have to.  You can’t sleep in the tub tonight.”  He began to drain the water and pulled her up, and then wrapped a fluffy towel around her and began to dry her off.  He left her hair wet, she was too tired and he wasn’t going to make her stay awake any longer than absolutely necessary.

She was awake enough that she grabbed a pair of her underwear and a shirt from her bag.  He realized as soon as she slipped the shirt on that it was one of his and he swallowed thickly.  She looked at him and gave him a lazy smile, “Sorry, but your shirts are comfortable.”

He opened his arms and she crawled into bed, resting her head on his chest, “Feel free to steal my stuff any time you want, doll.  It looks better on you anyways.”

She smiled before sleep overtook her.  Bucky watched her breathe evenly for the longest time before he too fell into a dreamless sleep.

 

Amara and Mina headed back to Shuri’s lab the next day once they had woken up.  Bucky was awake and stroking Mina’s hair when she finally pried her eyes open. She asked what time it was and discovered it was a little past eleven.

She didn’t want to get up, but she knew she had business to attend to this morning.  She kissed Bucky good morning and then changed before heading out to meet Amara. Shuri was still there and told them that things had been going well.  Five of the Sirens had already woken up and were currently being questioned to make sure they were in the clear.

Two more woke up fifteen minutes after Mina and Amara’s arrival.  Two guards came and took them to the rooms where they would be questioned.  The Dora Milaje were the ones doing the questioning since they were all women.  Everyone assumed the Sirens would feel more comfortable this way.

“Have any of them been working strictly for The Enclave?”  Mina asked as she watched the two women walk away with their guards.

“Not yet, but that doesn’t mean we won’t find one.  The first five girls are coming out of their questioning now and will be taken back to the palace if you want to go greet them at the jet.”

Amara and Mina headed up and saw several of the Dora Milaje escorting the women onto the jet, their bracelets were still on in case they tried something in their scared state.  One girl nudged the others and pointed at Mina and Amara. “That’s Mina,” she whispered.

“Good morning ladies,” Mina said with a calm smile hoping that she wouldn’t scare them.  “I know this must be very overwhelming for all of you, and I promise that everything will be explained later when the others come around as well.  For the meantime, Ayo and the others will take you back to the palace where you will find food, drinks, beds, whatever you need. Amara and I will join you later and we’ll explain the best we can.”

“How do we know you won’t try to hurt us too?”  One girl asked.

“You don’t,” Mina said truthfully.  “But I can promise you we won’t. I don’t want to hurt any of you.  The Avengers and I are trying to help you. King T’Challa has agreed to take you all in for the time being as we get you all situated and then you will be given a choice which I will explain more later.  Please go eat, drink, sleep, whatever.” She nodded to Ayo who helped load the girls onto the jet.

“That went better than I expected it too,” Amara said with a sigh.

“That it did,” Mina replied as she watched the jet take off and head toward the palace.  “But the hard part isn’t over yet.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shinsky's on the run and HYDRA is back. When will these two catch a break?


	8. Chapter 8

Only five of the girls were working for The Enclave, all of which were waiting to be transported back to America where they would be sentenced to jail time just like their friends.  The others were currently gathered in the great room of the palace waiting for any kind of news about what was going on and what was going to happen to them. Mina and the others were standing before them. Bucky was on her right and Amara was on her left, a reminder that she was not going through this alone.

She took in a deep breath and said, “I know all of you must be pretty scared and confused right now.  I know the thoughts that must be going through your head. Trust me I was right there with you when I was first brought out of the haze that Shinsky had me under.  But it’s all right. None of us are planning to harm you or use you. We just want to help in whatever way we can.”

Amara spoke up next.  “Currently Shinsky’s whereabouts are unknown to us.  We thought he would be at their headquarters last night, but that information proved to be false and well, here we all are.  You all, along with me, Mina, and the group of women we rescued before last night were brainwashed and had our memories stolen by the group known as The Enclave.  It’s run by Shinsky as we all know, and he experimented on us. Gave us powers that we were never supposed to have.”

“I told some of you earlier that we were going to give you a choice about what you wanted to do, and here’s that choice; you can either join up with us, the Avengers and fight Shinsky and his men. Or you can stay here in Wakanda where you will be safe until the rest of us can take The Enclave down once and for all.  Afterward, we will help you locate your families and help you get your lives back,” Mina informed them.

“If you have any questions, please calmly raise your hands and we’ll call on you one at a time,” Amara finished.

Every single hand shot into the sky, none of which surprised Mina.  “All right Demi, you’re first.” A tall, dark-skinned woman with dreads stood up, every eye in the room on her.  “Why did they do this to us? What made us so special?”

“If, like me, you were a weak infant in your mother’s womb they figured they could run experiments on you, and if you died no one would know.  If you lived they would watch you over a certain period of time before capturing you and turning you into one of their Sirens,” Mina informed her.

Demi and a few of the others looked troubled.  Amara called on the next girl. “How will you help us find our families?”

Tony stepped us to answer that one, “All I need is names or anything you can remember from your past.  I can track them down from there and we can get you home.”

Demi sat down and they called on the next woman.  They answered questions about what would be expected of them if they joined the Avengers in their quest to take down The Enclave.  If they joined would that make them full-time members or could they leave afterward? They all basically wanted to know what their options were.

Everyone answered the questions to the best of their abilities.  Some questions they couldn’t answer because they were about The Enclave and they didn’t have all the answers to those.  The others asked the women if they had questions about anything else besides the ones about The Enclave.  They explained if they wanted to better understand their powers they could help with that since they had some experience with them.  Then when the questions started to die down some they asked the women if they had any clue where Shinsky and the others currently were.

“The only Siren that we know of with that much information would be Caterina,” Demi supplied.  “She was always right there with Shinsky.”

“That’s what I was afraid of,” Mina said.  “All right, well that was all we needed from you so please take the day to think on it and then tomorrow give us your answer.  We’d like to get the ball rolling on trying to find where The Enclave is right now. If you have anything that could help us locate them, then please let us know immediately.”

The women slowly filed out of the room and the others let out exasperated breaths.  “Do you think they’ll tell us anything?” Steve asked.

“Don’t know,” San-ha said.  “It depends, they all look pretty scared right now.  Let’s let them calm down and see what they tell us.”

“I’m going to make them dinner,” Mina announced.  She looked at Bucky, “And you’re going to help me.”  The two of them headed for the kitchen. “We’re making lasagna,” she told him as they stepped inside the palace’s massive kitchen.  “You start frying up the meat and I’ll work on the sauce and noodles.”

The two of them worked in sync, Bucky adding a few spices to the meat once he was sure it was cooked just the right amount and let it simmer while he grabbed the pan they needed.  Mina checked the sauce and asked Bucky to taste it. When they were sure it was good they added that to the meat and filled the bottom of the pan.

Mina laid the noodles gently on top of the meat and added cheese.  Once they were done the two of them slumped against the counter. “Brings back fond memories,” Bucky said as he smiled at Mina.  “I remember the first time we cooked together.”

She moved closer to him, “Yes and you said you didn’t know how to cook, and I told you I would teach you.”

“And you did,” Bucky responded.  “If I remember correctly some of those lessons got a little heated,” he grinned down at her, his pupils dilated.

She arched an eyebrow, “Mmm, and Tony nearly had a fit that one time he caught us… again.”

Bucky rested his forehead against hers as they began to giggle.  The timer went off and the two of them pulled the trays of lasagna out.  They cut it into squares and placed them on plates with silverware, and then put those onto two rolling carts to easily transport the food to all the rooms.

It took them thirty minutes to deliver all the food, but once they were through Mina felt content to know that they had done something, and made sure the others were all right.

 

In the morning Mina laid out a sheet of paper for the girls to sign if they wanted to help the Avengers take down The Enclave.  The women were informed that they had the rest of the day to sign the paper because tomorrow the Avengers would be heading back to the compound with or without them.

When she went to collect the sheet that night she saw that more than half of the women had signed the paper.  She was relieved that so many of them wanted to help. She was afraid none of them would.

She passed the list along to Tony who thanked her and started making preparations for their trip back home.  T’Challa came and wished her goodbye, he wouldn’t be able to see them off in the morning. Shuri was spending the night with Peter, hanging out at her lab and inventing things together.  

Bucky and Mina headed up to the rooftop garden together.  Steve and Natasha were already there when they arrived. Steve had his back to them, his arms wrapped around Natasha.  “I see you guys had the same idea,” he said as they took a spot next to them.

“We did, it was where we had our first official date,” Bucky said and he rested his head on top of Mina’s head.  They watched the city glow beneath them. All of them marveling at the beauty of this place.

“I want to live here for the rest of my life,” Mina said with a dreamy smile.  “The people are nice, the place is clean, it’s just great here.”

“So you would give up New York for Wakanda?”  Bucky asked her, it thrilled him that his favorite place in the world was also her favorite place.

“In a heartbeat,” she said.

“I don’t know, I’ve grown used to New York,” Natasha said.  “Wakanda’s great for getting away, but I’d miss the blend of cultures that New York has to offer.”

“I could never leave New York,” Steve said.  “It’s where I grew up. It’s my home.”

“Where’s your sense of adventure Steve?”  Bucky teased.

“I get enough of it with this job,” Steve flashed his friend a smile.

They all fell quiet, taking in the sight before them, content to just be with one another.  Steve and Natasha left first. They were leaving early in the morning and the two of them claimed they were tired.

“They’re going to go be inappropriate as Peter would say,” Mina said with a laugh.

Bucky held her a bit tighter, “Do you wanna go be inappropriate?”  His breath tickled her ear and he grinned when he felt her shiver. He heard her heart rate spike.

“Maybe,” she said slowly.  “Maybe I just want to stay here a bit longer and enjoy the view with the love of my life….”  She trailed off and bit her lip. “We could be inappropriate here.”

“Mina Gaspari, are you saying we should have sex on the roof?”  He couldn’t help but laugh.

“Two birds, one stone,” she said.

Bucky kissed her shoulder, “Don’t ever change doll.”

She turned around in his grasp and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.  “So Sergeant Barnes, here or the bedroom?” She gave him a seductive smile and he couldn’t resist her.

“Bedroom,” he murmured.

The two of them raced off like two teenagers.  Mina didn’t think she would ever get tired of the feeling of just being completely in love with Bucky.  The way he would smile at her in the mornings when she first woke up and knew she must look terrifying with her matted hair and bad breath.  Or the way he found little ways to touch her throughout the day.

Bucky on the other hand wondered what he had done to deserve her.  To have someone look at him like he was the only person that mattered.  To have her completely accept his past and not see him as a monster, something he had struggled with for the longest time.

When the door shut behind them he bent down and kissed her sweetly.  Nothing like their usual frenzied kissing when they got like this. He wanted to show her just how much she mattered to him.

He held her close, her soft moan as he deepened the kiss spurring him on.  He could taste her sugar cookie chapstick, smell the vanilla flavored perfume she had started wearing.  She was intoxicating.

“I love you,” he whispered, his nose brushing against hers as he went in for another soft kiss.

She gripped his arms and smiled, that sweet, loving smile, “I love you too Bucky.”

He ran his fingers through her hair and slowly started backing her up toward the bed.  Her hands fumbled with his belt. 

He on the other hand tugged her shirt above her head, their lips momentarily breaking apart.  His metal hand against her bare skin made her jump at the touch, but she relaxed when she got used to the feeling.

She tugged his belt loose and tossed it to the side, his jeans button popping open under her fingers.  The two of them continued to rid each other of clothes until they were completely bare to one another. 

They spent the rest of the night lying together, sharing soft kisses, lingering touches, and promises of what their life would be like in the years to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sugar cookie chapstick is a thing, I actually have some and I love it. Also Friday's chapter is almost 3,000 words long. I got a little carried away...  
> Also surprise! Early update!


	9. Chapter 9

Mina woke up to an empty bed which surprised her.  Normally Bucky would wait until she was awake before leaving her.  And she knew he had been gone for an extended period of time because his side of the bed was cooler.  

She stretched her arms above her head and sat there for a moment scrolling through her phone and reading her messages and emails.  Her parents had sent her several texts asking her how she was doing and when she would return from Wakanda.

She sent them the answer that she was coming back today and that their mission had been somewhat of a success.  She promised to call them as soon as she was back at the compound. She threw on some comfortable clothes after she hung up with her parents and packed her bags.

As she was doing that Bucky came back bearing a tray laden with food.  He set it down on the coffee table and walked over to give Mina a good morning kiss.  The act seemed so domestic and normal, a moment of normalcy before they got back to their usual lives of chaos.

“I was surprised to find you gone this morning,” she said as she sat down to eat the breakfast he had brought her.  “Normally you’re the one begging me to stay in bed a little while longer.” She looked over to where he was throwing his own clothes into a bag preparing to depart.

“I woke up early, decided that I would fix you breakfast and we could share a few quiet moments together before we had to leave for New York.”  He placed their bags by the door and then took a seat beside her on the couch. “Did you sleep all right?”

“I slept fine since someone tired me out last night,” she shot a smirk his way and he matched it with one of his own.  “But yes, I did sleep well considering all the craziness that’s been going on lately.”

“It’s only going to get crazier once we’re back in New York.”

“I’m counting on it,” she replied as she cleaned up her place.  

A knock on the door and Steve’s voice telling them that the others were ready to go had them grabbing their bags and leaving the room following Steve down the halls to the jets.  T’Challa was there to see them off and once the goodbyes were said the jets were in the air and headed for New York.

Landing back at the compound was quite the adventure since they had to put all the girls in rooms, some of them had to bunk up because other rooms had been taken by the other Avengers or the Sirens that had arrived first.

“I’m going to need to expand,” Tony said as they finally paired up the last few Sirens.  “If we keep housing brainwashed people we’re never going have any room.”

“Ha-ha,” Mina said as she poked Tony in the ribs.  

He ruffled her hair, “Do you all have things handled from here?  I have business to attend to in my office.”

“Yeah go ahead,” Bucky told him.  “If any of them have any questions or need help we can handle it.”

Tony thanked them and headed off toward his office.  Mina and Bucky headed to the living room for a few hours of downtime and so she could call her parents.  Bucky watched her as she spoke in Italian, telling them that they hadn’t found Shinsky and that they saved most of the Sirens.  They were working on figuring out Shinsky’s position now.

When she hung up she rested her head on Bucky’s shoulder.  “The sooner this is over the sooner my parents stop worrying about me.”

“It’s nice that they worry like they do,” Bucky said quietly.  “It means they care about you.”

“I know,” she sighed.  “It’s just sometimes I get tired of reassuring them all the time that I’m okay, and that I’m not going anywhere anytime soon.”

“Can you blame them?  You were taken and missing for seven months, and then on top of that you had no recollection of who you even were.”  His thumb gently stroked the side of her arm. “I’m still worried and I’m almost constantly around you.”

She leaned up and kissed him, “I’m not going anywhere any time soon.”

“You say that now, but who knows.”

“I do,” she said forcefully trying to get her point across.  “We’re almost done with this. We just need to find Shinsky and the others and then it’s over.  All of this will be over.”

Bucky wanted to correct her and tell her that it wouldn’t be over, they still had to deal with HYDRA, but he saw the look on her face.  He knew she knew what he was thinking and she was daring him to say it. He relented with a nod, “Then it will all be over.”

She kissed his cheek and laid down so her head was in his lap.  She wasn’t about to let HYDRA stop them from being happy. They had already taken enough of Bucky’s happiness, she wasn’t going to let them take anymore.  She was going to protect him, and she was going to make sure that this time HYDRA couldn’t be able to make a comeback.

 

Several days later the Avengers were strategizing with the Sirens.  Tony was having F.R.I.D.A.Y. run facial recognition to see if maybe they could find any remaining members of The Enclave that way.  One of the girls told him it would be unlikely and the remaining members of the little military they had assembled who have joined up with HYDRA.  

“Shinsky and the others will go undercover and work from the ground up again,” San-ha continued the thought of the previous Siren.  “They won’t want to draw attention to themselves. They know that we’re hunting for them now. Shinsky is hoping that by bringing HYDRA into this that we’ll be too worried about dealing with them that we won’t even bother with looking for them.  We have where they were making Sirens. The place is now crawling with government officials, they can’t go back.”

“And you all have no idea where they could have possibly gone?”  Natasha asked.

San-ha shook her head, “No.  We were never privileged enough to have that information.”  She looked over at Mina, “But you might.”

Mina’s eyes widened, “What do you mean I might?  Don’t you think that I’d be the last person they would tell?”

San-ha shook her head, “You’ve been there before.  A long time ago when you were a child. Your parents sent you off thinking it was a summer camp.  You were there for two weeks as Shinsky and the others ran experiments on you to see how you were developing.  I heard them discussing it one day. They locked the memory away though so that you wouldn’t remember. It’s the last place in the world that they have that no one but the four of them would know about.  Caterina will be there as well, but she didn’t know about it beforehand.”

Mina couldn’t breathe.  “The doors,” she stood up and headed for the computer.  She pulled up Shuri’s contact info and called her. A moment later everyone in the conference room could see Shuri’s face.  “Shuri, how do I recreate what you did to help me get my memories back here at the compound?”

Shuri looked a little stunned, “It won’t be easy, but I can ship the tech you’ll need to do this.  Dr. Banner can assist you from there. Think of it like lucid dreaming, we just need you to be in a state of consciousness but you technically need to be asleep, your body needs to be at rest.  Once there you should be able to access the memories.”

Mina looked back at Bruce, “You’ll help me?”

He nodded, “Of course.”

She looked back at Shuri, “Send the equipment over as soon as you can, we need it if we want to locate Shinsky.”

“What are you planning?”  Tony asked.

Mina looked around the room at her friends, colleagues, and acquaintances taking in each one of their curious gazes.  “There were doors that I couldn’t open when Shuri was helping me regain the memories Shinsky had locked away. I’m going to try and open them to see if any of them is the door that will lead me to this place where they’re holed up now.”

“What happens if you can’t unlock it?”  Pietro said. “You had trouble before unlocking memories that hadn’t been tampered with dramatically.  This is something they would have wanted to protect at all costs.”

“I’m getting that door open and we’re going to find them,” she said vehemently.  “Tony, keep running facial recognition, if we can get a hit on them that way then good. But we’re also going to try this and see if it can work.”  No one argued with her.

Later that evening Natasha and Wanda came up to her and asked her how she was feeling.  “I know that your childhood was something that remained untouched in a sense by them. Sure they spied on you and they did what they did while your mother was pregnant,” Natasha said.  “But you always assumed that you never had any previous interactions with them up until your adult life.”

Mina ran a hand through her hair, “At this point I am no longer surprised or going to let it affect me.  They had a hand in almost every aspect of my life, I’ve grown used to it. I’ll be fine.”

Wanda rubbed Mina’s back, “We’re here for you.”

She pulled them in for a group hug, “Thanks, you guys.  I know this hasn’t been the easiest situation for any of us, but thank you for sticking by me while I deal with all of this.”

“What are friends for?”  Natasha asked. “Plus we all want this over with so that we can start planning your wedding to Bucky.”

They began to giggle like school girls.  “You’re right, that is something to look forward to,” Mina said.  “I can’t wait to start looking for the dress and imagining the look on Bucky’s face.”

“I’m sure whatever you choose he will love,” Wanda assured her.  “He loves you too much not too.”

“Who says we have to wait?”  Natasha asked. “We all know it’s going to happen.  We can start looking now, it’s not like we don’t have anything better to do.”

Mina chewed on her lip for a second, she really wanted to.  “F.R.I.D.A.Y. where is Bucky currently?”

“He left with Steve to pick up dinner.  You have approximately an hour and a half to research wedding dresses before he gets back.”

Natasha squealed and raced to get her laptop.  She returned in record time already booting it up and logging onto the internet.  “So what kind of dress are we going for? Classic? Sexy? A little unconventional?”

“I hadn’t even really thought about what I wanted.  I was just going to go through them and decide.”

“Well we all know you aren’t going to be wearing white,” Natasha said.  “We already went over that. So lets at least decide colorwise what we can mark off.”

“Black, pink, pure white; I’m not saying it can’t be an off-white.  And yellow,” Mina ticked off the colors she knew she didn’t want to wear.  “Oh and red!”

Wanda pouted, “Aww but red is such a pretty color.”

“Then you can wear it to your wedding,” Mina teased.

“Yes when will that be?”  Natasha looked up from her computer screen to look at her blushing friend.  “You can’t tell me you haven’t thought about marrying Vis.”

Wanda rubbed the back of her neck, “Well I mean I have, but it’s just that Vis and I have never really talked about it.  Would he even want to get married?”

“You won’t know unless you talk to him about it,” Mina told her.  “If it’s something you want then talk to him. If he doesn’t and you do then I think it’s time you decide what you want in life.”  She took Wanda’s hand, “But I’m almost a hundred percent certain that Vis would want to marry you. Just the way that he looks at you speaks volumes.”

“It’s gonna happen,” Natasha said.  “I refuse to believe that it’s not going to happen eventually.”

Mina and Wanda looked at Nat.  “Okay what about you and Steve?”  Wanda questioned.

Natasha’s cheeks turned a light shade of pink, “What about me and Steve?”

“Don’t play coy,” Mina wagged a finger at her friend.  “Spill, are you too serious enough to consider marriage or is this just a fling?”

“I-I….  We haven’t talked about anything… we’re just having fun?”  It was the first time that either of them had seen Natasha at a loss for words.

Wanda and Mina shared a knowing look before turning back to Natasha.  “Sure you are,” Wanda said.

“You’re falling in love with him,” Mina grinned.

“Maybe I am,” Natasha said.  “But can you blame me? He’s so sweet, and caring, and oh my God he’s amazing in bed.”  She buried her head in her hands. “This was just supposed to be a fling, but I think I’m falling in love with the big idiot.”

“Does Steve know this?”  Mina prompted softly.

Natasha let out a defeated sigh, “No, but I guess with how things are going I’m going to have to tell him.  But what if he doesn’t want more?” Mina and Wanda gave Natasha a look. “What? I made it clear at the beginning that I wasn’t looking for a long-term thing and neither was he because of our lives and it was when you were still with The Enclave,” she told Mina.  “We just needed to be there for each other. It wasn’t supposed to end up like this.”

Mina shook her head, “Nat, Steve’s had feelings for you for some time now.  He probably agreed to this because he thought it was the only way he’d ever get to be with you.  That night on the roof in Wakanda was not someone who just looks at you as a friends with benefits kinda thing.  That says he cares about you.”

“I’ll talk to him,” she said softly.  “I think I need to know how he really feels and if all this needs to be ended.”

The other two agreed with her and then turned back to her computer as they started looking at wedding dresses and telling each other which ones they would look best in.  Mina liked the ones with delicate lace sleeves. Wanda liked the ones without straps. And Natasha liked the ones that showed a little cleavage. They even made comments about which ones the boys would go crazy over when they saw girls in their wedding dresses.

F.R.I.D.A.Y. gave them a heads up when Steve and Bucky had returned with the food.  Natasha quickly hid her laptop and when Bucky and Steve entered the common room the girls tried to act like they hadn’t been up to anything.  The two men knew immediately that they had been discussing something they didn’t want the two of them knowing. Both Steve and Bucky were going to ask their respective girls what they had been up to later, but for now they let them think they had gotten away with whatever it had been that they were doing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another early update! Honestly, I couldn't wait until Friday to post this one and I don't know how the next two days are gonna go so I thought I'd post it today. I went a little over my usual word count with this chapter lol. It's almost 3,000 words long. Hope you guys enjoyed it. I leave next Thursday for vacation, I'll try to update next week before I leave, but if I can't then I'm sorry, but I promise to be back after I get home. I'm not taking my laptop with me so that's why I won't be updating. I'll be back sometime after the 22nd.


	10. Chapter 10

“What were you three talking about after Steve I returned?”  Bucky was holding Mina in his arms as they laid together in bed.  His metal fingers were softly stroking her back, and she placed a featherlight kiss on his chest.  They had just settled in for the night, and Mina was feeling tired, but Bucky’s curiosity got the best of him.

Mina yawned, trying to fight off sleep so she could answer him.  “We were talking wedding stuff, looking at dresses. Nat was talking about Steve.  She wants to be more than what they already are.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?  I thought they were dating?” He asked quizzically.

“Buck, they were friends with benefits,” Mina chuckled as she took in his bewildered look.

“Get out of here!”  He sat up momentarily displacing Mina as he did so.  She shifted so that she was lying on her side, her head propped up on her hand.  “Steve never told me that! I assumed they were together together, not friends with benefits.”

“Maybe he didn’t want to make a big deal out of it.  But I told her that they certainly were past the point of just a friends with benefits relationship.”  Mina yawned, “I don’t know when, but she’s going to talk to him about how she feels.”

“Steve’ll be happy,” Bucky knew how much his friend loved the redheaded assassin.  He had been happy when it had become apparent that the two of them were more than just friends and colleagues.

“I always hoped those two crazy kids would get together some day.”  The two of them laughed.

Bucky pulled the covers up over their heads and Mina snuggled closer.

“So tell me, what can I expect from your wedding dress?”

Mina grinned, “As if I would tell you anything.”

“Not even a little hint?”  He gave her his best pleading stare.

“Nope,” she patted his chest.  “You’ll live.”

He shook his head, “You’re so mean to me.”

“I am not, you’re just impatient.”

“True,” he kissed the tip of her nose.  “Get some sleep, we’ve got a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”

“Don’t remind me,” she said as she yawned.  The equipment Shuri was supposed to send over would be arriving and that meant that it would be time to go back and relive her memories to see if she could find any place where Shinsky and the others were hiding.

 

Bruce was in the lab hooking the machine up with Shuri in the background telling him what to do.  Mina sat on the counter with Bucky standing beside her as they watched what was going on. Sometimes Bucky would help Bruce, but for the most part Bruce wanted to do this alone.

Mina grabbed Bucky’s hands and he looked at her in concern, “Something wrong?”

She shook her head, “I'm just remembering the last time I went through this.  I’m a little worried about what I might find.”

Bucky turned and stood between her legs, his fingers brushing her hair back.  “You will be fine. They’re just memories, they can’t hurt you. And I’ll be right here with you the entire time.  I’m not going to leave you alone.”

She nodded, “I know, but that doesn’t make this any less daunting than it already is.”

Bruce stood up and looked over at Mina.  “All right, I think we’re all ready to go.”  He wiped his hands on a rag and looked toward the screen, “Thanks for the help Shuri.”

“Anytime Dr. Banner,” and then she was gone.

Mina hopped off the counter and paused before she made it over to the table.  She looked back at Bucky, he could see the scared look in her eyes. “I’m not going anywhere Mina, I promise.”  She relaxed some as she turned back Bruce and the equipment he was going to attach her too.

She climbed up onto the table top and let Bruce hook her up to the machines.  He looked down at her from where he was standing. “We’ll be here the entire time.”  She nodded her head and closed her eyes.

Slowly she felt herself falling into a deep sleep and she was in the hallway once again.  The red and grey doors stretching for miles down the white hallway. She clenched her fist at her side and took in a deep breath.  

“Please let me find the right door,” she whispered as she began to push doors open.  

She walked for what felt like hours opening doors and viewing her memories. Every timee she approached a grey door she calmly stood in front of it. She knew she couldn’t force these doors open.  They had to be opened when she wasn’t under duress. Several of the doors turned red under her touch as she went to open them, but they weren’t the right memories.

She kept walking and walking until she finally reached the end of the hallway.  There before her was a grey door, but this door was covered in chains and padlocks.  “You’ve got to be kidding me!” Her voice echoed around her. She walked up to it and studied it.

How was she going to get all these chains and locks off of it?

But suddenly the world around her began to grow fuzzy and she felt herself slipping away.  “No, no, no, no. Not yet!” She tried to focus and keep herself under just a bit longer. “I almost had it!”  She screamed.

The next moment she was sitting up in the lab gasping for breath.  Her heart racing. “Doll?” Bucky was next to her, a concerned look on his face.

She sighed and buried her face in her hands, “Nothing!  I got to the door and it was covered in chains and padlocks.  I know the memory was behind that door because none of my other memories were that guarded.”  She looked over at Bruce, “You need to put me back under. I think I can open it.”

Bruce shook his head, “Let’s give it a day.  You’re on edge right now, your heart rate increased while you were under.  Your safety comes first.”

Mina huffed, “I can do this.”

“No,” Bucky said.  “You need to relax and calm down.  I know how anxious you are to finish this mission, but you’re not reverting back into who you were before they took you.  Remember if you’re stressed you can’t open the door, and with how this door sounds your going to need to be as calm as you can be to open it.”

“Fine, but we try again tomorrow,” she argued.

“That we can do,” Bruce said diplomatically.  “And at least you know where the door is now, so you can bypass all the other ones and go straight to it.”

He did have a point, she did know where it was now and she could go straight to it when she went back under.  She thanked Bruce for his help and left with Bucky to grab some lunch and share the news with Tony and see if maybe he had any good news for them.

 

The next day Mina went to the lab with Bucky and Bruce put her under once again.  The hallway was waiting for her when she woke up in a sense in this dream world of hers.  She quickly hurried down the hallway and back to the door.

It was waiting for her.  Mocking her with all its obstacles waiting for her.

She studied it.  She knew that if she tried to force it open or stressed about not being able to open it then it wouldn’t budge for her.  She had to look at this logically.

She moved closer and lifted one of the padlocks in her hands.  There was a keyhole on the bottom. It was just like any other padlock, if she wanted to open it then she would have to summon a key to open it and the others.  She dropped it and lifted her hand up imagining a key resting in her palm.

She stood there for ten minutes focusing on a key, any key, to get the lock open.  Nothing happened and she growled before taking a deep breath and shaking her head. 

“Don’t stress,” she repeated the mantra over and over again until she felt something cold and metallic in her palm.  She opened her eyes and saw a key resting there. She squealed and jumped up and down excitedly. 

She had done it!

She grabbed the padlock she had just been holding and tried to stick the key in, but nothing happened.  It wouldn’t budge. She dropped that padlock and continued to try and use the key in each one on the door until she found the right one.

The padlock and the chain vanished before her eyes.  She felt some of the tension leave her shoulders. This was good, this was a good start.

She tried to summon another key, but nothing happened again.  She tried her mantra but even that didn’t help her. And slowly she felt herself waking up.  This time she didn’t sit up and gasp for breath. She merely blinked open her eyes and met Bucky’s blue gaze above her.

She sat up and swung her legs over the side.  “Same time tomorrow Bruce. I managed to get one chain off, but I have a feeling this is gonna take awhile.”

He told them goodbye and began to prep for tomorrow's session.

Bucky wrapped his arms around her waist when they entered the hall.  “How do you feel?” He asked, concern lacing his voice.

“I feel good,” she said truthfully.  “I just have to keep a positive outlook on this, and keep reminding myself that I will get that door open one day.”

“Bucky, Mina, Mr. Stark would like to see the two of you in the conference room,” F.R.I.D.A.Y. told them.

“We’ll be right there,” Mina responded.  She stood on her toes and pecked Bucky on the lips.  “Thank you,” she whispered.

“For what?”  He asked her as he held her a bit tighter.

“For never giving up on me and for always being there for me when I need you the most.”  She hugged him, “I hope you know how thankful I am that you’re in my life.”

“I do, and I hope you know how thankful I am that you’re in mine.”  She nodded her head. He placed a kiss to her forehead when she pulled away and said, “Come on, let’s go see what Tony wants from us.”

They traveled down the hallway to the conference room where they found that Tony was no the only person waiting for them there.  Steve, Natasha, Wanda, Vision, Pietro, Sam, and San-ha were also there.

Tony had an image of Shinsky pulled up on the TV screen.  Mina knew that it was a recent image of him. He had stubble all along his jaw, and his clothes were new, they didn’t fit his normal attire, it was as if he were trying to blend in better with the people he was around.  Mina met Tony’s gaze. “We found him,” was what he said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This will be the only chapter this week and for the next week or two to come. I'm leaving on Thursday for my vacation and as I said in a previous chapter I'm not taking my computer with me. I'm sorry, but once I get back I'll start working on new content for you I promise!  
> And I'm sorry I'm ending this on a cliffhanger!


	11. Chapter 11

“Where?”  Mina asked after a long moment of silence that seemed to stretch on forever.  She wasn’t sure if she had heard him right. He had just said they had found Shinsky right?

“Boston,” Tony said with a little nod of his head.  “He was in Boston a few days ago.  F.R.I.D.A.Y. found the footage and told me immediately.  The only problem is that he vanishes the moment he reaches the cities borders.  But this is a good place to start, at least we aren’t scrambling for any little bit of information on him.”

Boston.  What was in Boston?

Mina wracked her brain trying to remember if she had ever been anywhere in Boston or even Massachusetts.  But nothing rang any bells with her. “Okay, what about the others? Caterina? The other three scientists that are Shinsky’s partners?  Any of the guards that we didn't catch that night of the raid on their headquarters?”

Tony shook his head, “We haven’t seen hide nor hair of them, only him.”

Mina chewed on the inside of her cheek, “He’s playing with me.”  She looked up at Bucky. “He knows we’d used facial recognition to try and find him.  He knew we would find this and that they others would bring it to me.” She looked at Tony.  “What if he’s nowhere even near Boston and this is all some elaborate plan to throw us off track?”

“I mean that’s always a possibility,” he told her.  “But lets at least look into this before we go off on conspiracy theories about where he could be.”

She nodded, “You’re right.  I’ll keep working with Bruce to see if I can get the door open in the meantime.  I’m making progress.”

“That’s good, keep up the good work on that front.”  He turned to Steve and Natasha, “I want the two of you to head on over to Boston see if you can find anything on Shinsky.  Retrace his steps the best you can.” The two of them nodded and got up to go pack and leave for their trip. “The rest of you just wait for further instructions.”

Mina and the others filed out of the room.  There were so many thoughts swirling around in her head.  What was in Boston? Was it just a ploy to get them to look there while they packed up and moved somewhere else?  Was Shinsky trying to send her a message?

Bucky gently took her hand in his and gave it a light squeeze.  “Hey, you okay?”

She didn’t look up at him, her brows furrowed.  She was trying to recall anything she could, but as far as she knew she had never been to Boston before.  She had driven past it, but never had she been there. “I’m just trying to decide if Boston is a dead end or not,” she informed him.  “I don’t want the others to waste their time on a dead end.”

“If it even gives us the slightest hint at what he’s trying to do then it’s not a dead end.  He came out for a reason, that’s saying something right there.”

It was.

She stood up and kissed his cheek, “Thank you, Buck.  You just gave me an idea.”

He gave her a confused look before she dashed down the hall.  “Mina!” He went running after her. “Where are you going?”

“Boston!”  She replied as she skidded around a corner.  “There’s something I need to do.”

**Mina:**  Meet me at Boston Public Garden, six P.M. sharp.  Come alone, I’ll be at the Lagoon Bridge.

**Unknown Number:**  I knew you’d be watching me, my darling Siren Song.  I will meet your request. See you shortly.

She was almost to the garage door when Bucky grabbed her upper arm and pulled her to a stop.  She turned to look at him. “Don’t go,” he pleaded. “He’ll take you again.”

“He’ll have to catch me first Buck.  I don’t plan to be taken again. But he’s playing with me and I need to see what he wants.  I need you to stay here, stall Steve and Natasha for as long as you can. Give me a head start.  I’m driving, they’ll take a jet.” She took both his hands in hers. “Do you trust me?”

“With my life,” he said without hesitation.

“Then let me go,” she whispered.

Bucky’s anxiety flared to life in his chest.  He didn’t want to do this. He didn’t want her to go, but he knew that if he didn’t help her then she would find another way to get to Shinsky and he couldn’t let that happen.  If he knew where she was then it would be better. “All right, but if I don’t hear from you every hour on the hour, I’m coming for you.”

“Deal,” she gave his hand a gentle squeeze.  

She turned and grabbed the keys to her car off the wall and drove away quickly.  Bucky turned and head to find Natasha and Steve to stall them for as long as possible.

 

Mina entered the gardens in Boston completely invisible.  She was keeping an eye out for any signs of an ambush, but the people here were mainly families, college students, and elderly people.

“Siren Song,” she heard Shinsky call out.  She turned and saw him standing on the bridge.  He was in slacks, and a button up shirt, his hands folded behind his back.  He had a slight smile on his face. “I know you’re there my darling Siren Song.  You’re looking for an ambush, but I promised you I would come alone, and I did.”

She became visible and his smile grew.  “Why Boston?” She questioned.

He looked around, “There is so much history here, no?  The Americans dumped the British’s tea into the harbor.  Paul Revere riding through the streets shouting about the British coming.  The Boston Massacre.” He looked around. “So much bloodshed that could have been prevented if only people had had someone like you.”  His gaze landed back on Mina.

Mina stiffened, “Having your free will stripped from you isn’t truly freedom or fixing things.”

He laughed, “You are so young my darling girl.  So full of hope and wonder and love.” His eyes narrowed slightly, but the smile never slipped.  “The Avengers have filled your head with their ideals, poisoned you. You could make the world a better place.  A safer place.”

“You want to rule it,” she took a step closer to him.  “And you want to use me to do it. You robbed me of my memories!  My memories of my childhood, my parents, Bucky, all of it! Because you knew that I would never agree to it.”

“Of course I did,” he let out a deep sigh.  “We should have never left you with your parents, but we weren’t sure the serum would even work.  We watched you, and you were better than I ever could have dreamed. You are my perfect Siren. The others could never compare to you.”

“What about Caterina?”  

Shinsky growled, “She was a mistake.  The woman hangs onto my coattails. I only keep her around because she listens so well to me.”

“Why did you bring me here Shinsky?”

“If I recall you were the one who contacted me,” he responded.

“Only because you showed up on our security feeds and I knew you wanted something.  Why else show yourself when you know we’re looking for you?”

“Perceptive, I do want something.”  He looked over her shoulder and Mina turned to see another man standing there.  “Go ahead and introduce yourself, my friend.”

The unfamiliar man smiled.  He had dark eyes, and black hair combed back.  “Hello Miss Gaspari, my name is Derek Lanahan. A member of HYDRA.”  Mina’s blood ran cold, her muscles tensed, and she clenched her fists together ready for a fight.  “My superiors wanted me to deliver this to you.” He produced a memory stick from his pocket and tossed it at her.  “It’s about your precious Bucky Barnes.”

“They have plans for him just like we have plans for you,” Shinsky said behind her.  She stared at the memory stick wondering if she should toss it in the lagoon and never show anyone what the man had given her.  Especially Bucky.

“This is only the beginning Miss Gaspari,” Derek told her.  “The Enclave may be in pieces right now, but HYDRA is rising and we will be a force to be reckoned with.”  With that he turned and blended back into the crowds of people.

Mina turned back to Shinsky, “You’re doing this to punish me aren’t you?  You think that by coming here, by threatening Bucky it will make me more willing to come back into your sick, twisted world, am I right?”

Shinsky tilted his head, “Yes and no.  I know that no amount of threatening will work.  Not after the last time. You will both simply find a way back to one another.  Such is the way of soulmates, whether you believe in that or not you and James Barnes seem to share a connection.  Punishing you, however, works much better. The stress will get to you and you will either destroy yourself or you will make mistakes and ultimately be mine again.  In the end, I will get my way.”

“Go to hell,” she spat at him.  “And take your friends with you.”  Peter would be proud of her pop culture reference even in the middle of an intense moment such as this.

Shinsky gave a humorless laugh.  “You will come around eventually, my darling Siren Song.  Just wait. I’ll leave you now, have fun showing your friends the new information.”  With those final words he turned and left as well leaving Mina standing on the bridge feeling more helpless than she had in a long time.

 

Tony was there to greet her when she got back.  “What the hell were you thinking?!” He shouted at her as she entered the door.  The others were in the hallway, including Natasha and Steve, and Bucky who was giving her an apologetic look.  She knew that he would only be able to hold them off but for so long without them finding out she had left and what she had gone to do.

“I knew he wanted to see me.”  She pulled the memory stick out of her pocket and tossed it to Tony.  “Plans for Bucky, from a man named Derek Lanahan. Claims he’s a member of HYDRA.  Gave me that and told me they were planning something for Bucky. Shinsky’s hoping that this will trip me up and make me fall straight into their hands, but it’s not going to work.”

She pushed her way down the hall.  Everyone was staring after her with worried looks, and then they turned their attention to Bucky who was looking more worried for Mina than he was for himself.

“Barnes, do you want to see this?”  Tony asked cautiously.

“Later,” Bucky said a little absentmindedly.  He started after Mina, “I need to check on her.”  He headed down the hall, first checking their room, then the library, and finally the gym where he found her beating up a poor dummy.  “Doll?” He asked quietly so he didn’t startle her.

“I’m fine Bucky,” she huffed as she continued to throw punches.  “Just working out some of my frustrations.”

He walked over to her and gently wrapped his arms around her waist.  “Talk to me.”

She huffed, “If I could just remember where they are!  HYDRA’s never going to let them in, and Shinsky knows that.  He’s still banking on me messing up and coming back to him. He’s hoping this little stunt will be what does it, but it’s not going to work.  We’re going to fix this.”

“Of course we are,” he said softly, his lips close to her ear.  “We always find a way.”

“I’m just so tired, Bucky.  So tired of all this bullshit.”

“I know doll, I am too.  But look at it like this.  We have them on the ropes. They’re losing and becoming desperate.  Soon The Enclave will be nothing but a horrible memory.”

He was right, but then they had a whole other problem to deal with.  HYDRA hung in the air between them, but neither of them dared bring it up.  That was a problem for tomorrow. 

She relaxed against Bucky.  “I’m sorry if you got yelled at because of me.”

“It’s fine doll, nothing I couldn’t handle.”  He kissed the top of her head.

She turned in his grasp and wrapped her arms around him, and let him hold her.  Tomorrow was a new day. A day closer to finally bringing Shinsky down. A day closer to her being free.  She could do this. She just had to have faith in herself and in her friends. They had faced worse problems and overcome them, they would overcome this as well.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! And I had so much fun on vacation. It was so relaxing. I hope you all enjoy this chapter!


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mentions of Bucky's torture.

Mina worked continuously with Bruce trying to unlock the door in her mind that would lead them to the location of The Enclave.  Some days were better than others. There were some days when she would come out and feel like she had accomplished nothing and had just wasted her time, others she felt like she had actually done some good at getting the door open.

Bucky was always there supporting her no matter what the outcome of the situation was.  He just wanted her to feel like she wasn’t failing at this.

Tony and the others continued to work on trying to locate Shinsky and the other members, but after that day in Boston he had gone dark.

The memory stick that Derek had given Mina was still lying on the conference room table.  No one had looked at it, everyone a little afraid of what would be on there.

“We need to know,” Bucky told them one meeting as they all looked at the offending object with similar frowns on their faces.  “If it gives us a tiny clue as to what HYDRA is planning then we should see what’s on there.”

“Buck,” Steve looked up from the memory stick to give his friend a worried look.  “Do you really want to torture yourself like that?”

Mina reached out and put her hand on top of his, “Remember what I went through?  I was in a really bad place when I knew what The Enclave wanted to use me for. Don’t do that to yourself.  I can’t take seeing you like that, knowing how you’re feeling.”

He looked at Mina, her heart broken expression.  Both of them understanding how the other was feeling.  “If we don’t do this it’s just going to sit there and torture us all.”

“I could destroy it,” Tony suggested.  “Then we would never have to know and it wouldn’t be staring at us day after day.”

“No,” Bucky looked up at them all, he had been silent the entire time the team had been debating on what to do with the memory stick.  “This should be my choice, this Derek guy said it was about me. We’re looking at it.”

Steve and Mina shared a look with one another, but Steve reached across the table and grabbed the memory stick.  He passed it to Tony at the head of the table and Tony hesitated, a haunted look in his eyes. With a soft sigh, he put it into the slot and they watched as HYDRA’s logo appeared on the TV screen.

For a moment everything was quiet until the room was filled with the sounds of Bucky’s screams.  Mina tensed as she watched her fiancé was strapped to a chair as he was tortured by HYDRA goons. His hair was slick with sweat and so was his chest.

That scene disappeared, but the sounds of his screams still seemed to echo through the room.  The next thing was a montage of Bucky’s kills over the years. Mina saw Tony’s parents, felt the tension in the room rise.

She glanced at Bucky, he was sitting there with his fists clenched together, his jaw tense, a frown on his face.  She reached out to touch him, he jerked slightly, but then his gaze met hers and he relaxed some.  Knowing she was right there with him helped ease some of his tension, he was safe with her and he wasn't there with HYDRA.

The images were still flashing by on the screen as a voice began to speak, “Did you enjoy your time away from us  _ soldat _ ?  Did you really think that we would just give up so easily?  That we were truly gone for good?” There was laughter, and it took Mina a moment to realize she was hearing Derek’s voice.  “We were never truly gone, just rebuilding. And we want you back, you were the greatest weapon that HYDRA ever created. Once The Enclave is gone, which you all will do for us, then we are coming for you.”  On the screen there was a satellite map and on there was an image of a wooded area with a building hidden from sight somewhere in upstate Maine. “Here is a little gift for you. Finish them off. HYDRA does not wish to work with Shinsky, we only needed him for the Siren Program.  Once you have taken care of Shinsky, we will use you and Shinsky’s Sirens to accomplish what we started long ago, and this time we will not fail.”

The screen went black, the entire room still staring at the screen.  Mina was the first to speak, “This has to be a trap.”

“No,” Bucky said.  “They were using Shinsky until they got what they wanted out of him, and then they were going to eliminate him.  We’re just pawns in HYDRA’s game.”

Tony looked at Mina, “Keep working on your memories, I want to be sure that this is the place we need to go to find the remnants of The Enclave.”

She nodded and took Bucky’s hand.  “Come on,” she whispered. She hated the haunted look in his eyes.  She needed to get him away from the others. He followed her numbly, the others not saying anything knowing it was better to give the two of them their space.

Mina and Bucky exited the compound and headed to the park, both of them still quiet.  Mina pulled Bucky down onto the ground and had his head in her lap so that she could gently stroke his hair.  She didn’t ask him questions, she was waiting for him to open up to her. She knew he was still fighting through his demons and she would be there for him every step of the way.

“I’m sorry you had to see all that,” he whispered at last.

She looked down at him bewildered, “Why are you apologizing?  You don’t have to, you never have to apologize for what you went through.”

“I’m apologizing because you just had to witness me at my worst, you were watching me when I was still the Winter Soldier.  All the things I did, all the things they put me through, you just got to see.”

Mina gently cupped his cheek, “Hey, don’t ever apologize for that.  That wasn’t you. Yes, it was hard to watch, but only because it hurt me to see you having to witness all that over again.  It made me angry that they would even dare send that to you.”

Bucky turned his head and kissed her palm, “You’re too good to me.”

“Oh Buck,” she whispered.  “You deserve happiness, you deserve to be free from all this.  And I promise that one day you will be.”

“It kills me because I’m putting you through this.  You’re shackled to me who has all this baggage, who has this past,” he spat.

“Like I don’t?”  She said. “I know that I didn’t do anything like what you did, but I was still brainwashed, I almost started a war between two countries.  I could have killed a lot of innocent people because of what Shinsky wanted me to do. We were used and abused, but we’re free, and we have one another.”

A tear rolled down Bucky’s cheek, “I’m sorry.”

It broke her heart that he felt the need to keep apologizing.  “James listen to me and listen to me well. I still love you no matter what happened in your past.  I will still be here for you no matter what obstacles are thrown our way. Shinsky told me that we’re like soulmates, we always find our way back to one another, and he’s right.  We are and we do. Don’t ever think I won’t stop fighting for you.”

Bucky sat up and rested his forehead against hers, his eyes closed.  “I love you, Mina Gaspari, with every fiber of my being.”

“And I love you, James Barnes.”  She leaned forward and kissed him before wrapping her arms around him and making sure he felt safe and secure in her arms.

 

Two weeks later Mina was finally able to open the door in her mind.  The last chain fell away and the door opened before her. She held her breath for a brief moment before stepping through the doorway and entering the room.

The memory hit her like a truck.

_ She was in the back seat of an SUV, Shinsky was with her.  She had an ice cream cone in her hands and they were driving down the road.  There were two other men in the front seat, but she couldn’t recognize them. She assumed they were guards. _

_ “We’re taking you somewhere special my darling Siren Song,” Shinsky said.  “You’ve grown up so beautifully, but we need to check your progress.” _

_ “Am I going to have powers?”  She asked after she has swallowed some of her ice cream. _

_ Shinsky nodded his head, “Yes, one day you will have powers, and you will make the world a better place.  Wouldn’t you like that?” _

_ Mina nodded her head, “Very much so.” _

_ “Good,” Shinsky petted her head.  “We’re almost there.” _

_ A little while later they arrived at the building from the map that Derek had given her.  She was led from the car to the door at the back of the building. She wasn’t afraid, she was curious.  The man had told her that she was going to be special one day, that she had a purpose and that people would look up to her. _

_ Shinsky led her deeper into the building until they reached an elevator with a keypad.  He typed the numbers ‘9469’ into the screen and the elevator doors opened. He let her on first and then the two of them were descending lower underneath the building. _

_ When the doors opened they were in a lab and Shinsky helped her up onto the table.  “You’re going to be put to sleep for a little bit, but don’t be afraid. We’re not going to hurt you.  And when you wake up you will be back at camp. Sound all right with you?” She nodded her head and he gave her a soft smile.   _

_ Mina realized in some sick twisted way he did care about her, she was his pride and joy.  His greatest accomplishment. She was the first Siren that had made it past infancy.  _

_ Mina laid back on the table and slowly the world began to grow fuzzy and then it grew dark until she was asleep. _

Mina woke up in Banner’s lab.  It took her a minute to remember she was not the little girl from the memory, she was an adult now and she was safe with the Avengers.  She sat up and took in several steadying breaths, she was shaking.

Bucky slowly approached her.  He had dark circles under his eyes from where he hadn’t been sleeping well these past two weeks.  “Doll?”

She turned to face him, the haunted look in her eyes told him that she had gotten in.  “They weren’t lying. That’s where Shinsky and the others are.”

Bucky nodded, “I’ll go let Tony and Steve know.  Why don’t you go get some lunch?”

He helped her off the table and she said her goodbyes to Bruce before heading to the kitchen while Bucky went to inform Steven and Tony of the news.  When she opened the door she found that Sam, Natasha, Wanda, and Vision were all in there sharing a lunch with one another. They looked at her trying to hide their curiosity.

“I remembered,” she informed them.  “HYDRA wasn’t lying, that’s where they are.  Bucky’s gone to inform Steve and Tony.”

“Are you okay?”  Wanda asked softly.

Mina shivered, “I… I seemed to trust him.”  Her younger self hadn’t seemed to be the slightest bit terrified of the man.  “He told me that I was going to make the world a better place with my powers and I went with him.”

The others looked at Mina with sympathy in their eyes.  “Why don’t I make you a sandwich?” Sam offered.

“Thanks, Sam,” she said as she took her place at the bar.  When he handed her a grilled cheese she nibbled at it, her appetite suddenly disappearing.  The others tried to take her mind off of what she had just witnessed, but nothing really helped.

She just kept seeing that smile he had given her before she had gone under.  She had to remind herself that she wasn’t with them anymore and that this would soon be over.

Bucky joined them a few minutes later, Sam offering to make him a sandwich as well.  He told the others that there would be a meeting tomorrow with everyone about how to proceed from here.  But tonight they could all rest and try to have a normal night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Enclave's end is upon us, but now we gotta deal with HYDRA....


	13. Chapter 13

“Does everyone understand the plan?”  Steve asked as he stood in front of them in full Captain America regalia.  Mina was also in her suit along with everyone else. They were standing on the landing pads waiting to board the Quinjets that would take them to The Enclave’s base in Maine.

They all nodded, this was the third time today that he had been over the way things were going to go.  “Yes Rogers,” Natasha said with a touch of sarcasm to her tone.  “It’s not like you haven’t been over the plan a million times already.”

He shot Natasha a look, “Romanoff.”

“Oh he broke out your last name,” Mina nudged her friend.  The two of them trying to lighten the mood.  "You're in trouble now."

“Could we please focus?”  Steve asked in exasperation.

“Could you please stop giving us long winded explanations for things we've been over at least a hundred times already?”  Sam fired back.

Steve looked over at Tony, “A little help here would be appreciated.”

Tony held up his hands, “Don’t look at me Rogers, this is between you and them.  But I’m with them, we’ve been over this plan a million times within the past week.  I think we all know what we’re supposed to do. Can we just get this show on the road?  I would like to be back home for dinner tonight.”

Steve rolled his eyes, “All right, everyone on board.”  They loaded up onto one of the larger Quinjets that would accommodate all of them.  

The Sirens huddled together, their hands clasped together.  Mina walked over to them and joined them in their little huddle, she knew how they were feeling right now and she wanted to be there for them as much as she could.

Steve and the others were toward the front of the jet, everyone silent.  The ride wasn’t long, and when Tony landed the jet, the tension in the air could have been cut with a knife.

Mina looked up at Bucky.  She walked forward and wrapped her arms around him.  “See you on the inside,” she whispered before disembarking from the jet and heading toward the entrance.

Guards were standing sentinel on the tops of the building.  Their guns raised, ready to shoot her at a moment's notice. “Hello boys, long time no see.”

Before they could fire at her, she used her powers to propel herself onto the roof of the building.  She grabbed the first guard’s gun and ripped it out of his grasp. She hit him in the head, knocking him to the ground.  One guard rushed her and she kicked him in the stomach, hitting him so hard that he hit the low wall of the roof with a sickening thud.

She shot the next guard in the leg.  She was moving so fast that they barely had time to keep up with her.  When each one of the guards on the roof had been taken care of she pulled out some zip ties and cuffed them, and left them for the others.

“Roof secure, about to enter the building now,” she said into her comm device.

She walked over to the roof hatch and dropped down.  The shoes that Shuri had made for her absorbing all of the sound as she dropped, the guards in front of her not hearing a thing.  She made quick work of them, and found the elevator from her memory.

Punching in the code she stepped inside and headed to the lower floor where she knew the labs and offices were.  Her palms were sweating slightly. This was it, this is where it was all going to end. After a little over a year of torture her nightmare was coming to an end.

She found Shinsky’s office at the end of the hall, his name on the door.  One of her hands lit with her turquoise flames she shoved it open and found him sitting at his desk.  He was sitting there like he had been expecting her to show up. “Tell me are the others with you?” He looked up at her, his eyes watching her facial features.

“If I said no would you believe me?”  She looked down at him, meeting his gaze with no fear in her eyes.  She would not allow herself to be afraid of this man any longer.

“No, but I wanted to see what your answer would be.  I had a feeling that you would be closing in soon.” He rested his hands on his desk and leaned forward slightly like he was going to push himself up from his seat.

“Then why not run again?  I thought there was still more you wished to accomplish?”  She was on high alert, she knew that there could be guards waiting to ambush her.  Shinsky’s office would have another entrance somewhere, and if he had somehow raised an alarm they would be here soon.

Shinsky was silent for a moment, “I figured what was the point in running anymore, there are so few of us left in The Enclave anymore.  I thought we could rebuild, but you were always so smart and I know HYDRA has it in for us. I’ve known for some time now. The sun has set on The Enclave, has it not my darling Siren Song?”

She was quiet for a moment as she watched him.  He was eerily calm for someone who was about to be arrested, all his work for nothing.  “It appears it has, HYDRA wants you gone. They sent us to finish you off. Although I don’t like thinking I’m being used by HYDRA.”

“HYDRA is good at getting others to do their work for them.   I had a feeling when they came to us that it was only a matter of time before they took us out.  I was hoping that by then that we would have enough Sirens to be the ones with the upper hand, but alas you destroyed all hope of that.”

“HYDRA’s time will come just like your time has come,” Mina responded.

Alarms started to blare throughout the levels of the base and she knew her friends had entered the building.  “Caterina isn’t here my darling Siren Song. I sent her away. I didn’t want her to be here for what’s about to come.”

“Where is she, Shinsky?”  Mina felt a little bubble of panic form in her chest.

“Home, to the place we took her from.  You should know where it is. She spoke of it some to you while you were with us for that brief moment of time.”  He reached out and brushed some hair from Mina’s face, she jerked back and sneered at him, but he merely smiled. “You two were friends at one time.  Do you remember?”

Mina narrowed her eyes, “What?”

“You were just children, but you were close on the playground.  My two Sirens.”

“Don’t move!”  Mina heard Bucky shout.  She turned and saw Bucky standing there, his gun raised, pointed right at Shinsky’s head.

“Wait!”  She held up her hand to stop Bucky.  “Wait,” she said a bit more calmly. She turned back to Shinsky, “I thought I was the first?”

“You were,” he said.  “She was the second. She has been with us the longest though.  She grew up with us. Her parents, they never wanted her. We took her in and raised her.  It is why she was always so clingy with us.” He turned to Bucky, “You will take care of my darling Siren Song yes?”

Bucky glared at Shinsky, “What makes you think I wouldn’t?”

Shinsky chuckled, “I know what HYDRA wants with you.  I know what was on that memory stick. I need to know that you will not turn destructive.  And she is still my greatest accomplishment. I want to make sure she is in the right hands if they are not my own.” 

“She isn’t your anything,” Bucky fired back.  “And it’s none of your business what happens to her from here on out.”  He grabbed Shinsky and handcuffed him. 

They rode up in the elevator and when they stopped at the main floor Mina told Bucky to take Shinsky to the jet, she was going to go help the others.  He nodded stiffly and roughly jerked Shinsky along.

Mina headed back down and found that most of the floors had already been cleared, guards were seated on the floor, their hands behind their backs, and they had been stripped of their weapons.

Mina walked over to Tony who was rounding up a couple of the guards.  “Shinsky has been apprehended. Bucky is taking him back to the jet, where are the others?”

“On one of the lower floors.  Natasha and Wanda are trying to get them.  Start helping get these men up to the jet. We have government officials coming now to pick them up.”  Tony handed over the two he was dealing with and Mina took them.

“Traitor,” one of them spat at her as she led them down the halls.  She tightened his restraints to the point that he grunted in pain.

Natasha and Wanda were standing outside the building with Maris, Carlo, and Jerome seated at their feet.  Natasha was on the phone, “Yes sir, they have all been apprehended and the base is secure. You can bring in your men and take them all into custody.”

Wanda noticed Mina and walked over, “Ross is on his way to get everyone.  Did you find Caterina? She was the only one we didn’t find.”

“Shinsky said that she’s at the place she once called home.  That we were friends, and that I should know where it is.” That was still messing with her.  There was a girl she used to be friends with back when she was a child. But she didn’t know how that girl could have possibly grown up to be Caterina.  “I didn’t even know I knew her before everything happened.”

“We need to find her before HYDRA does,” Natasha said as she walked over, catching the end of their conversation.  “Ross is on the way, do you have any idea where Caterina could possibly be?”

Mina wracked her brain trying to remember the playgrounds she used to play at as a child growing up in New York City.  “There may be one place I can go,” she told them. “There was a girl, I barely remember her, I used to call her Cat. She looked so different back then though.  It’s the only thing I have to go on though.”

“My darling Siren Song,” Shinsky called out.  She turned to look at him. “You must find her before HYDRA does.”

Ross and his men pulled in a few minutes later and started to round up the rest of the members of The Enclave.  He looked over at Mina, they hadn’t officially met yet. He held out his hand to her, “Everett Ross.”

“Mina Gaspari,” she shook his hand firmly.  This was one of the men that had been after Bucky a few years ago.

“Thank you for your help in taking down The Enclave, Miss Gaspari.  I hear that they put you through quite the ordeal.”

She nodded, “They did, I’m more than happy that this is all over now.”

“I can imagine,” he said.  “Would you be willing to testify against them in front of a judge and jury?”

“More than happy to if it means they go away for the rest of their lives,” she responded.

Ross chuckled, “I have an inkling that these men have their names written on some of the cells at the Raft prison.  I have no doubt that they would be locked away for life anyway, but with your testimony, it might help cement their sentence some.”

“Just say when and where,” Mina told him.  “I’ll be there in a heartbeat.”

He handed her a card with his name on it, “I’ll be in touch.”  He began shouting orders at his men.

Bucky walked over to her, “How do you feel?”

“Better, but Buck, I need to find Caterina.  And we need to do it before HYDRA does.” She chewed on her lip nervously.  “Shinsky may be an evil son of a bitch, but in his own twisted way he did care about all of us, and I know for a fact that he doesn’t want HYDRA getting ahold of Caterina or me for that matter.”

“Let me gather the others and we can be out of here in ten.”

“Make it five,” she told him.  “We don’t have a moment to spare.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few more chapters and then book four will be coming to a close! Are y'all excited or worried about how I'm going to end book four? Next chapter will be from the teams' point of view as they go in and start taking care of The Enclave, couldn't add that in this chapter because it was too long.


	14. Chapter 14

The others watched Mina disappear through the trees, the energy on the jet nervous.  Steve was standing next to Bucky, their eyes still on the spot where they saw Mina disappear to.  Bucky tried to tell himself that she would be fine, but it was hard not to worry about her.

“She’ll be fine,” Natasha stepped up next to the two of them.  Her face was neutral, but her voice gave away how worried she was for her friend.  “We trained her after all.”

“I know, but we don’t know what’s waiting for us in there, and we could have potentially just sent her into the hands of the man that has previously captured her,” Bucky pointed out.

“True,” Natasha said.  “But she’s tough, and she’s come such a long way since then.  They even trained her, she knows them. She’s not going to allow herself to be captured again.”

“Roof secure, about to enter the building now,” they heard her say.  

Bucky let out a relieved breath and turned to the others.  “All right guys game faces. She’s in.”

Everyone disembarked from the jet and started heading for the concrete structure.  Bucky couldn’t believe that this was the last Enclave base. It seemed odd to be heading in here.  The bases that they had been raiding for the past year now had been grander than this. This was a tiny building with no windows and only one door leading in and out.

But once on the inside he realized that looks could be deceiving.

Steve was the first person to reach the elevator and he turned to everyone.  “We need to make trips down separately. We’ll go floor by floor. Does everyone remember the code that Mina gave us?”  Everyone nodded and Steve turned to punch it in. The doors opened without any complications. He turned to Bucky, “Are you going with us or are you going after your girl?”

“I’m going to find Mina,” he told Steve.  “She says the labs and offices are on the bottom floor.  I’ll start there and work my way up if I can’t find her.”

Natasha, Steve, Pietro, San-ha, and Tony stepped onto the elevator.  Natasha giving them all a jaunty little wave before the doors closed.  Bucky waited before he called the elevator back up. He stepped inside and turned to face the others.  Wanda gave him a smile, “Good luck.”

He merely nodded as the doors slid shut on him.  He rode down in silence until he reached the bottom floor.  He stepped out and saw the guards sitting on the ground groaning in pain.  He grinned, pride flaring to life in his chest. Mina had been able to do this all on her own.

He pulled out his gun and headed down the hallway hoping to find Mina still in the condition she had left him in.

 

The elevator doors opened to reveal the level right below the top level of the building.  It reminded Steve of a hospital.

The lights were harsh, there was a sterile smell to it, and there were recovery rooms.  He turned to Natasha, “Secure the floor while we check the rooms for anyone.” She nodded and headed off down the hall as silently as she could.

Steve motioned for the others to start checking the recovery rooms.  Most of them were empty except for one at the end of the hallway. 

Varun was lying on the bed, his eyes shut, all kinds of wires and machines attached to him.  Steve hurried out into the hallway and called out for Pietro. The other man was there in an instant taking in the sight of the other speedster in front of him.  “What’s wrong with him?” Steve asked.

Varun was vibrating, even in his unconscious state his body was moving quickly, parts of him looking like a blur.  Pietro moved closer. “They’re running some kind of test on him, making sure his powers are still stable.”

“Are they?”  Steve asked worriedly.

“Hard to say,” Pietro said with a shake of his head.  “I’m not a doctor, and I have no idea how HYDRA ran tests on me.”

That worried Steve.  “Tony tell Banner to get his lab ready, we found Varun, and they’re running some kind of test on him.  We don’t know if his powers are stable or not.”

“On it,” Tony responded.

Natasha appeared in the doorway moments later, “Floor secure.  There were a couple of guards, but I managed to take care of them.  I’m going to head down if that’s okay with you.”

“Go, we can handle things here,” Steve told her.

Natasha’s eyes landed on Varun for a brief moment before she headed back the way she had come to the elevator.

 

Wanda and Amara were one floor below Steve and the others.  This floor was a living quarter for the guards. Some of them were asleep when the team entered.  Wanda entered their minds and made the guards see their worst nightmares. Some of the men began screaming as they were forced to live out their worst fears.

Amara looked over at Wanda, “Remind me to never piss you off.”

Wanda grinned at Amara, “Ditto.”

The two girls were about to move down the hall when the elevator doors dinged opened.  Wanda and Amara whirled around. Wanda’s powers lighting the hall with a red glow and Amara with a gun raised.

Natasha stepped out of the elevator with her hands raised, “Don’t kill me, I just came to see if you needed any help down here.  Steve and the others have the floor above us secure.”

Wanda and Amara both lowered their arms.  “We’ve taken care of this floor for the most part,” Amara told Natasha.  “We just need to zip tie the men.” She held up a handful of zip ties.

Natasha walked over and grabbed some of them and together the three girls worked to get the men zip tied together.  “We need to get these guys outside.” Natasha pressed a finger to her ear, “Steve, how’s cleanup going on the top floor?”

“We’re almost done, Pietro is taking the last of the men you took down back outside where Peter’s keeping an eye on them with Thor.”

“All right, come down here and help us with the men we have down here.”

“I’ll be right there,” he responded.

 

Bucky watched Mina and Ross interact with one another.  He had just handed her his business card before glancing at Bucky with an undecipherable look in his eyes.  Mina turned to Wanda and Natasha saying a few words before Bucky walked over to them.

She had stuck the card into one of the pockets of her suit for safekeeping until she made it back to the compound.  “How do you feel?” He asked as soon as he had approached her.   


“Better, but Buck, I need to find Caterina.  And we need to do it before HYDRA does. Shinsky may be an evil son of a bitch, but in his own twisted way he did care about all of us, and I know for a fact that he doesn’t want HYDRA getting ahold of Caterina or me for that matter.”   


“Let me gather the others and we can be out of here in ten.”  He turned to start rounding up the others.   


“Make it five.  We don’t have a moment to spare.”  He nodded and told the others what was going on.  They made sure everything was set so that they could leave.  As soon as they were on the jet Mina told Tony where he needed to go.  “It’s called Ancient Park. My parents used to take me there a lot when I was a child.  I had a friend Cat, we used to hang out together all the time. Now that I think back on it, I never saw her parents.  She just sort of always appeared out of thin air whenever I would arrive.”

The jet went as fast as it could go.  When they arrived Mina raced off the jet and into the park which was deserted.  An oddity for this time of day.

Bucky was right behind Mina, the others waiting back on the jet not sure what they should do.  Sam launched himself into the air to keep an eye on things from there. Tony stayed in the pilot’s seat, the others waiting for a signal that they needed to help Mina and Bucky out at a moment’s notice.

Mina found Caterina in the middle of the park.  “We used to play here all the time,” Caterina said.  She had heard the jet land and knew it would be Mina.  Shinsky had sent Caterina here for a reason. He knew that his time was up, that the Avengers would be coming for him.  “Do you remember sister?” She turned her head slightly so that Mina could see Caterina’s profile. “Or are those memories still lost to you as well?”

“I remember,” Mina said.  “I remember a lot now.”

There was a ghost of a smile on Caterina’s lips.  “Those times seem so far away now. They were much simpler weren’t they?”

Mina took a few steps forward, her eyes scanning the playground.  “Cat, I need you to come with me.”

“He’s gone isn’t he?  They took him?” She sounded so broken.  “The government took Master.”

Mina’s heart broke for the woman in front of her.  Caterina sounded so broken… so lonely. Shinsky and The Enclave were all she had ever known, were the only family she had ever had.

“They did, but he sent me to get you.  To protect you from HYDRA. I need you to come with me Cat, please.”  Mina held out a hand to Caterina. “Just come with me. I can help you.”

She wanted to help Caterina, wanted the woman to know a normal life.  The Avengers could help with that. She could put her somewhere where she would be safe.  They could rehabilitate her. Show her a life outside of The Enclave. Give her a chance at a life she had never had before.  Had never had the choice of having.

“I want to be with Master,” Caterina turned to fully face Mina now.

“You can’t be with him, I’m sorry,” Mina told her.  “Where he’s going you can’t go with.”

Bucky watched the exchange happening between the two women.  Something felt off. “Mina, we need to get out of here.”

Mina glanced back at Bucky, she didn’t like his worried expression.  She whipped back around to Caterina, “Please come with me. HYDRA is after us now, Shinsky doesn’t want them to get ahold of you or me.”

Caterina went to take a step forward, but then she stumbled crying out in pain.  Mina raced forward as quickly as she could and caught her. When she looked down, she saw red blooming on Caterina’s shirt.  “Ambush,” Bucky said. “Mina, get her out of her. Sam, cover us!”

“I can’t see anyone!”  Sam shouted. “There’s no one out there!”

“Like hell there isn’t!”  Bucky said. “Caterina was just shot!”

Steve and Natasha were there in an instant.  Steve helping Bucky cover Mina and Nat as they dragged Caterina back to the jet.  Tony was ready to take off the moment they were all on board. Sam promised to meet them back at the compound, and before the doors had even closed good Tony was taking off.

Mina laid Caterina down on one of the benches in the jet.  Everyone standing back to give them some room. The other Sirens were watching with tears in their eyes.  San-ha had her face buried into Pietro’s chest, soft sobs emanating from her.

Mina was putting pressure on Caterina’s wound, but she was bleeding too quickly and she was growing paler by the minute.  “Come on Cat, stay with me,” Mina begged.

Caterina’s breathing was becoming ragged, she reached into the pocket of her jeans and pulled out a little, braided bracelet.  “You were my only real friend,” she whispered. A tear rolled down her cheek. 

“Come on Cat,” Mina murmured.  “Stay with me, we can save you.”

Cat shook her head, “I have no purpose.”  She dragged in a pained breath. “Master is gone.  I failed.”

“No,” Mina shook her head.  “You can have a purpose. We’ll find you a purpose.”  Caterina pressed the bracelet into one of Mina’s hands.  She offered a small smile before her head lolled to the side, her eyes fluttering shut.  Mina rested her head on Caterina’s stomach. “I’m sorry,” Mina sobbed. 

Bucky pulled Mina into his arms, “I’m sorry.”  He stroked her hair, trying to comfort her in any way that he could.  

The jet ride was quiet the short flight back to the compound.  Steve picked up Caterina’s body and carried her inside. The others followed along silently behind him.  The mission had been a success for the most part, but it was hard to celebrate when they couldn’t have saved one more person.

Mina took a shower to wash the blood off.  It hurt Bucky that she wasn’t singing, that she was hurting over this.  When she got out he took her to the med bay where they had taken Caterina.  San-ha, Amara, and a few of the other girls were there holding one another.

Bucky stood back and let them all have their moment.

“She may have been Enclave through and through,” Amara said.  “But she was just as abused as the rest of us and she deserved a second chance at life.”

San-ha brushed some of the hair away from Caterina’s face.  “If only we had been quicker.”

Mina wiped her eyes with the back of her sleeve.  “What do we do now?”

“Bury her?”  One of the girls questioned.  “It’s about all we can do.”

“Where?”  Amara asked.

“The park,” Bucky said.  Everyone in the room turned to face him.  “We bury her in the park right out back. It’s peaceful there.  God knows she needs somewhere beautiful and peaceful. I’ll talk it over with Stark, but I’m sure he won’t have any qualms about it.”

“Thank you,” they all murmured before he headed off to find Stark.

The rest of them just held one another and mourned for the woman before them.  It wasn’t how they wanted to end this chapter of their lives, but underneath their grief all of them were glad to be free of The Enclave once and for all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I debated about how I wanted to end Caterina's arc. She's been a slave to Shinsky and the other's for so long and she was just so broken. Mina wanted to help her despite Caterina being the one that captured her in book two because just like Mina and the others Caterina was a victim. Unfortunately Caterina's ending wasn't a happy one, and I felt like it was the only right path to take in this situation because all other roads just didn't feel right to me.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pregnancy mention at the end of this chapter and in the next chapter (which will be the last).

_“Cat!”  Mina raced forward as soon as she saw her friend over by the slides.  The two girls embraced. Mina’s parents smiling from the sidelines as they watched the interaction between the two girls.  “I made you something.” Mina dug around in her pocket and produced a braided bracelet. It was a mixture of greens, purples, and yellows._

_Caterina’s eyes widened, “I love it!”  Caterina tied it around her wrist and smiled up at Mina.  “Promise me that we’ll be friends forever.”_

_Mina gripped Caterina’s hand tightly in her own, “Of course we are.  Why do you think I made the bracelet silly?” The two of them giggled and rushed off to go play together._

_A few weeks later Caterina stopped showing up at the playground and Mina wondered what had happened to her.  She looked for her each time she went, but the girl was never there. Mina was sad that she had lost touch with her friend.  She asked her parents if they knew where Caterina had gone, but they knew nothing._

_Come to think of it they had never even met Caterina’s parents.  It was odd, but soon after that Caterina slowly filtered out of Mina’s memory, nothing but a faint memory of a girl named Cat at the edge of Mina’s childhood memories._

 

Mina jerked awake.  She had had another dream about Caterina, it was the fourth time this week that it had happened.  This one from when they were children. She felt something damp rolling down her cheeks and realized that she had been crying in her sleep.

She slipped out of bed, careful not to wake Bucky, and slipped up to the roof.

Amara was up there when Mina arrived.  A fire was going in the pit and a blanket was wrapped around Amara.  “Hey,” Mina greeted as she took a seat beside the other woman. Amara opened her arms and welcomed Mina into the blanket.  “How’s Varun?”

“Better, Shuri called me today and told me that he’s progressing really well.  She and Dr. Banner are doing everything they can for him. He still doesn’t have his memories back though.”  After Caterina’s death, they had been dealing with Varun’s problem.

His powers at the time had been unstable and he needed help if he didn’t want to lose control of himself.  Wanda, Pietro, and Tony took him to Wakanda along with Dr. Banner so that they could help him.

“He’ll get them back,” Mina reassured her friend.  “I did, Bucky did.  He just needs time.”

“I know, it’s just after everything with Caterina, I’m worried.”  She rested her head on Mina’s shoulder.

“You should go to Wakanda.  You should be there for him as he goes through this.”  Mina knew her friend was having a hard time being away from Varun.  “We’re fine here, and the trial isn’t for another two months. You have time.”

“I’ll think about it,” Amara said.

The two of them lapsed into silence as they stared into the fire.  Mina grew tired again and helped Amara back to her room before rejoining Bucky in their bed.  He hadn’t woken up, but as soon as she slipped back under the covers he was wrapping his body around hers, seeking out her warmth.

She smiled and snuggled closer, for a moment just forgetting everything.

 

Amara wound up going to Wakanda and a few weeks later Varun had recovered most of his missing memories.  Pietro stayed to help him learn control over his abilities before Varun and Amara headed back to India to lead a quiet life.

San-ha was one of the few Sirens that decided to stay with the Avengers.  The others decided to go back to their families. They would have to have constant watches on them in case HYDRA tried anything, but they deserved to be back with their loved ones.

The weeks passed slowly and Mina began planning the wedding again with the girls.  Her mother would come over and help them. Bucky and Mina weren’t going to let HYDRA rain on their parade.  The Enclave had already messed up their happiness once, they weren’t going to let another evil organization get in the way of this.

Happiness started to seep back into the compound.  Everyone loosened up and started to joke again. Pietro and San-ha became closer and Mina teased Pietro about his crush just like he had with her when she was crushing on Bucky.

“Are you ready to give your testimony on Tuesday?”  Tony asked Mina at dinner. The two months before the trial had passed by quicker than any of them had expected it too.

She nodded, “I’m ready to put this all behind me.”

“We’ll be there every step of the way,” Wanda told her.  “We’re not going to leave you alone.”

“Thanks you guys, that means a lot to me.  Having to face Shinsky again is a little daunting, I’m not going to lie.  But I know that he can no longer hurt me.”

“We’re all glad that this is behind us,” Steve said.  “Dealing with Shinsky and the others was getting tiring.  Worrying about whether they were going to kidnap more innocent women,” he shook his head.  “I’m just glad we’ve washed our hands of The Enclave.”

“Here, here,” Natasha raised her glass in a toast, the others following her lead.

They continued to talk about how Tuesday was going to go, and what Mina was going to say, wondering what kind of questions were going to be thrown at her.  She stayed silent for the most part just taking it all in. She was thankful that they were all there for her and that they were there to support her. She didn’t know if she would be able to do this alone.

That night when Bucky and Mina went to bed she felt a little queasy.  She chalked it up to her nerves over Tuesday and tried to get some rest.  But over the next few days she continued to notice the queasy feeling, until one day during training with Natasha she rushed to the bathroom to throw up.

Natasha stood over her, holding her hair back.  “Mina are you okay?” Natasha gave her a worried look as Mina went over to the sink to splash some cool water on her face.

“Fine, just nervous about tomorrow.  I’ve been feeling sick for the past few days.  It’s nothing,” she waved her friend off. “But if you don’t mind I think I’m going to go get some rest.  I haven’t been sleeping well.”

Natasha merely nodded and watched her friend head off toward her room.

 

Mina sat with her friends as the trial started against Shinsky and the other scientist of The Enclave.  When Shinsky had entered the room his eyes had scanned the crowd until he found Mina. He still didn’t know that Caterina had been shot.

The others had surmised that HYDRA had killed Caterina because of her close relationship with Shinsky.  She was a liability because she was too loyal to Shinsky. She would never listen to her new superiors at HYDRA.

The judge called the court into session and they began the proceedings.  Mina was called to the stand and she stood on shaky legs heading to the podium.  They swore her in and she took a seat facing the sea of faces.

Cameras were flashing and reporters were waiting to hear what she had to say.  She saw her friends and teammates giving her encouraging smiles, and even Everett Ross was watching from one of the back rows.  The lawyer fighting against Shinsky stood and walked over to her. “Miss Gaspari, you and the Avengers have been trying to apprehend Wladyslav Shinsky for little over a year now correct?”

“Yes sir,” she responded.

“And in that time you were captured by the group calling themselves The Enclave correct?”

“I was.”

“What was that like Miss Gaspari?”

Mina clenched her fists in her lap, all eyes trained on her, she swore she could hear a pin drop.  “It was horrible. They stipped me of my memories and they made me do things that I would never normally do.  I was to shadow a French minister and try to work my way through their ranks in hopes of starting a war between France and the Middle East so that The Enclave could come in with their Sirens and take over.”

“Why not just send the Sirens in anyways?  You all are clearly powerful.”

“There are over seven billion people in the world right now, even if we are powerful we’re not that powerful.”

“Do all of your powers come from Dr. Shinsky and his cohorts?”

Mina shook her head, “No, Princess Shuri of Wakanda ran tests on my blood when we were trying to figure out what the serum they used on me was made of and she discovered that most of my abilities come from a genetic mutation that was dormant until Shinsky began experimenting on me while my mother was pregnant with me.”

“Would you have chosen to go with Shinsky if he hadn’t threatened the safety of your friends?  Would you have joined The Enclave willingly?”

“No, I don’t believe in their cause.  They wish to rule the world in a similar fashion to what HYDRA wanted to do.  I swore to protect the world from people like him.”

“No further questions Miss Gaspari.”

The judge asked if The Enclave’s lawyer had any questions, but he denied and Mina was set free.  She joined her friends again and they watched the rest of the trail play out. Shinsky and the other scientists were sentenced to three life sentences with no chance of parole.  Mina let out a breath of relief.

Bucky squeezed her hand a small smile on his face, she returned it with one of her own.  As they exited the courthouse Tony suggested they go to Mina’s parents’ restaurant to celebrate their victory.

None of them refused the chance to get pizza and celebrate their win.

 

A week after the trial Mina went to Natasha, she still wasn’t feeling better.  “I’ve been throwing up and I’ve been so tired. I thought it would all go away after the trail, but it’s still happening and I don’t understand why.”

“Mina,” Natasha took Mina’s hands in hers.  “Have you missed any of your periods?” Natasha had suspected something was up since she had witnessed Mina throwing up that day after their training session.

Mina’s eyes grew wide, “No, no, no, no that can’t be it.”

“Come on,” the two of them headed for the garage and headed for the nearest pharmacy.  Natasha bought Mina a home pregnancy test and told her to go pee on the stick.

The two of them waited in the bathroom waiting for the stick to tell Mina whether she was pregnant or not.  Once the timer on Natasha’s phone went off they peered at the stick. Mina felt light headed as she stared at the two little lines telling her she was pregnant after all.

“Mina?”  Natasha asked gently.  “Say something.”

“Oh my god,” she whispered.  She looked up at Natasha.

“Tell me what you need to me to do,” Natasha was ready to do anything Mina needed from her.

“Get me another test, I want to be sure.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Siren's Revenge is almost over! One more chapter after this. And I can tell you that there is going to be a spin-off, after I write book five so y'all get one more with Mina and Bucky. It's going to be about the next generation of Avengers :D


	16. Chapter 16

Mina knocked on the medical bay doors.  Dr. Helen Cho was inside looking over some files.  She had come for a visit a few weeks before to talk with Bruce and to stay with the team before a medical conference she had in New York City.    


Helen looked up and smiled when she saw Mina standing in the doorway, “Hello Mina, what can I do for you?”   


“Hey Helen, um I need a favor,” Mina fidgeted uncomfortably in the doorway of the med bay.  “I need you to run some tests and tell me if I’m pregnant.”   


Helen faltered, “Did you already take a home pregnancy test?”   


Mina chewed on her lower lip, “I took several and only one of them didn’t come back positive.”  She moved forward some, “I need to be a hundred percent sure that I am or I’m not.  Can you help me?” She sent a pleading look Helen’s way.   


“Shut the door, I’ll run some tests.”  She drew blood and began running the tests on it. Mina sat there quietly waiting to hear the news that she already knew.  She knew that she was pregnant, but she needed a second opinion, a professional opinion. After what felt like hours Helen turned to Mina, “You are.”  There was a small smile on her face, unsure of how she should react to this situation.   


The initial panic that Mina had felt at the pharmacy had subsided.  She and Bucky had talked about having kids, they had even already picked out their names.  She was genuinely happy, but then the reality of the situation hit her like a ton of bricks.  HYDRA was back. They would be coming for Bucky, they would use the baby against him.   


Mina got up and gripped Helen’s hands, “Please don’t tell anyone.  Not even Bucky, swear to me that you won’t tell another living soul.”   


Helen could see the distress in Mina’s eyes, “I promise.”   


Mina relaxed some, “Thank you.  I have to go.” She rushed out of the med bay and through the halls toward where Bucky was currently training.  She forced a smile on her face and prayed Bucky didn’t ask her what was wrong.  “Hey Bucky? Can you go pick up some burgers from that place I like?”   


“The one that’s an hour from here?”  He came to stand in front of her, his hands slipping into the back pockets of her jeans.     


She nodded, “You don’t mind do you?”   


“No, do you want to go with me?  We could have a date night,” there was a hopeful look in his eyes.  They hadn’t been alone in some time and now that she was free from The Enclave he wanted to spend as much time with her as possible.   


“No, trust me I want to, but I have things that I need to do here.  Just go and I’ll see you when you get back, okay?”   


“All right,” he leaned down and kissed her.  “Let me go shower and I’ll head right out. Your usual right?”   


“Yes,” she said quietly.  He went to walk away, but she caught his hand, “Bucky?”  He stopped and looked back at her. “I love you.”   


He smiled, and her heart broke in her chest.  “I love you too, doll.”   


The gym doors closed behind him and she whispered, “Goodbye Bucky.”   


She waited until he was in their room before she found Natasha who was waiting back in her room for her.  Natasha stood as soon as Mina entered. “So?”

Mina nodded, “I am, Helen confirmed it.”  Mina felt tears well up in her eyes. “It wasn’t supposed to go like this Nat.  We were supposed to get married and then have kids once we retired.”

Natasha knew that Mina wasn’t planning on staying here, and she couldn’t blame her.  “Sometimes life throws curve balls, we’ve just gotta roll with it the best we can.”

Mina wrapped her arms around Natasha.  “This is going to kill him.”   


“He’ll understand Mina, one day this will all make sense to him.  Now come on we need to get you packed.” The two of them headed to Mina and Bucky’s room, Bucky had left a few minutes prior and they were free to pack in peace.  They only threw in things that Mina would need. “Where are you going to go?”  

Mina wiped her tears away, she was sitting at her desk writing a little letter to Bucky as Natasha finished up the packing.  Explaining in little detail that she still loved him, but she had to go and she couldn’t tell him why. “I don’t know, I just need to get as far away from here as possible before he comes after me.”   


There was a knock on the door and Mina froze thinking that maybe Bucky had come back because he had forgotten something.  “It’s Tony,” Natasha said. “I texted him.” She opened the door and Tony stepped in.   
“I’ve arranged a flight for you to head to London.  Once there you can go wherever you want. I set up a bank account for you to help with anything you may need.  And I promise that I will never tell Bucky anything.”   


Mina stood up and hugged Tony, “Thank you.”   


“Of course, you need to put his and your safety first.  And while I hate that you have to run, I understand why you’re doing it.”  He rubbed her back. “I want updates. I want pictures. I still need to know you’re okay.  If I don’t hear from you I will tell Bucky and we’ll all come looking for you.”   


She nodded, “Deal.”  She walked back over to the desk and grabbed her note, laying it on the bed she grabbed a few of her bags and followed Natasha to the garage.  She would take Mina to the airport.   


She walked with her until she could go no further.  They embraced, “Good luck.”   


Mina pulled away, “We’ll see each other again,” Mina promised.  “I’m just going to be gone long enough that you guys can take down HYDRA again.”   


They embraced one more time, neither of them wanting to let go.  “Go or you’ll miss your flight.”    


Mina nodded and said one last goodbye before disappearing from sight.

 

Bucky returned from getting dinner and went up to his and Mina’s room to let her know he was back.  He knocked on the door and pushed it open ready to greet her when he discovered the room was empty. Personal items were missing from the shelves, and there were more clothes strewn across the floor.    


“F.R.I.D.A.Y. where’s Mina?”  He moved closer to the bed and his heart sank when he saw a note with his name written on it lying on the bed.   


“She left, and told me that everything was written in the note,” F.R.I.D.A.Y. responded solemnly.   


Bucky’s heart pounded in his chest as he picked it up and began to read.   


_ Dear Bucky, _ _   
_ _ I’m so sorry to be doing this to you, and I know I’m going to be hurting you by doing this, but it’s for the best.   _ __   


_ I can’t stay there any longer.  I have to get out, and I can’t tell you why.  I promise that this has nothing to do with me not loving you.  Honestly if it did this would probably be easier, but I still love you Bucky.  I always will. _ _   
_ _ And someday hopefully I can come back and explain all this to you.  Explain why I had to leave. And hopefully you won’t hate me for it. _ __   


_ I love you, Bucky.  Please don’t come looking for me, I’m doing this to protect you. _ _   
_

_ Mina _ _   
_

Bucky raced out of the room, still clutching the letter tightly, “Steve!  Steve, get a Quinjet ready. We need to go after Mina!”   


When he reached the main floor of the compound he stopped when he saw Natasha and Tony standing in the front hallway in front of the doors that led to the landing pad.  “Bucky,” Natasha had a pained look on her face, she looked regretful. “Please don’t go after her.”   


Bucky became angry, “How can you ask me not to go after her?!  I love her! I have to know what’s going on, why she just suddenly decided to up and leave.”   


Tony held out his hands, “She’ll be safe, just trust her.”   


“Do you know why she left?  She said it was to protect me, but what could she possibly have to protect me from?”  He asked furiously, he wanted to know why the two of them were acting like this, why they weren’t telling him anything.   


Natasha and Tony shared a look with one another before looking back at Bucky.  “We can’t tell you,” Natasha said. “She swore us to secrecy. Bucky, it’s for the best, please just trust us.  This isn’t permanent.”   


“F.R.I.D.A.Y. why did Mina leave?”  He glared at the two people in front of them.  If they weren’t going to tell him then maybe the AI would.   


“I’m sorry, but she also swore me to secrecy,” F.R.I.D.A.Y. responded with the same solemn tone she had used earlier.   


“The one time!”  He wanted to punch a wall, but he took in several deep breaths.  “Please,” his voice broke. Tears welling up in his eyes. “Please tell me why.”  He had to know what could have possibly have happened that made her think it was a better option to leave than to stay with him, to work through this together.   


Natasha’s heart broke for both her friends.  Seeing Mina’s tears as she boarded the plane that would take her to London nearly killed Natasha, but this was a whole nother level of painful.  Bucky had been through so much, he was finally happy, and now it was being taken from him. “I’m sorry,” tears filled her eyes. “It’s for your safety and hers.”   


“It has to do with HYDRA making a comeback doesn’t it?”  He asked in a small voice. “She thinks she’s protecting me if they can’t find her.”   


“Something like that,” Tony said cryptically.   


Steve appeared and took in the scene before him, “Buck, why don’t we get you back upstairs?”  He looked at Natasha and she knew the look in his eyes meant that they were going to talk once he had gotten Bucky situated in his room.  “Where do you want to go?”   


Bucky felt numb.  She was gone and it was his fault.  She left because of him. “She left because of me.”   


“No, Buck don’t think like that.  Mina loves you, she’s doing this to keep the both of you safe.  She’ll come home.” They passed by several of the team members who looked on curiously.  Steve just shook his head and they went on about their business.   
  
Natasha shot a text to Shuri reading: “Pick Mina up at Heathrow at 8.”   


Shuri agreed, feeling just the little bit curious as to why she needed to pick Mina up at an airport and why she wasn’t just flying into Wakanda herself.   


When Steve got Bucky settled in and made sure his friend wasn’t going to try and go after Mina he went in search of his own girlfriend and Tony, the two who had been trying to talk Bucky out of going after her.  He found them in Tony’s office, both of them grim faced.   


“What the hell is going on?  Why did she leave and why can’t Bucky go after her?”   


“Take a seat Rogers,” Tony said.     


Steve did a bit reluctantly, “Just tell me what’s going on.”   


“You have to swear to us that you’ll never tell Barnes,” Natasha said.  “Can you lie to your best friend?”   


Steve took in a deep breath, could he?  “Tell me.”   


“Mina’s pregnant,” Tony said.  “She found out today. Dr. Cho confirmed it.  Mina left to protect the baby and Bucky. If he and HYDRA didn’t know about the baby then they couldn’t use it against him.  Mina would have stayed if it was just her, but with this discovery she knew she had to go.”   


Steve sat there just blinking at the two of them.  “She’s… she’s pregnant?”   


Tony and Natasha nodded.  “We want to tell Barnes, please don’t think we are getting any joy out of this, but we need to keep them safe.  Mina isn’t going to ask Bucky to give up everything to come play house with her. She knows this is something he needs to do just like taking down Shinsky was something she needed to do.”   


Steve put his face in his hands.  “She’s going to Wakanda isn’t she?”   


“It’s the only place where she’ll be safe, the way that all three of them will be safe.  Barnes might suspect she would go there, but at the same time it’s too obvious,” Tony said.  “T’Challa will keep an eye on her while she’s away.”   


“How long?”  He looked up, he suddenly felt very drained like he could go to sleep and sleep for another seventy years.   


“As long as it takes for us to wipe out HYDRA,” Tony said.   


“Then I guess we have some work to do before our girl can come home.”   
  
Mina landed in Heathrow and she sat in her seat for a few minutes just staring out the window unsure of what to do now.  She had stopped crying some time ago, the older lady she had sat next to on the plane ride had talked her down. She had poured her heart out, she didn’t tell her the whole story, just that some bad people were after her fiance and that she left when she found out she was pregnant.   


“Honey,” she said in her sweet old lady way.  “If he truly loves you then he’ll understand that you were just doing this to protect the both of you and your child.”   


Mina had wiped her tears with the back of her sleeve, “You’re sure?”   


The older woman had nodded her head, “Yes.”  She reached into her carry on bag and pulled out a card with her name and number on it.  “Contact me anytime if you ever need anything. I live here in London.”   


“Thank you,” Mina whispered overcome with emotions at this kind older woman.  Her name was Sarah Bishop and she was apparently a cake shop owner.   


Sarah had gotten off ahead of Mina and when Mina entered the terminal she was greeted by the sight of Shuri.  Relief surged through Mina. “Shuri!” She raced over and threw her arms around the younger girl. “You have no idea how happy I am to see you.”   


Shuri squeezed her friend tightly.  “Come on, I’ve gotten your room set up, and T’Challa is waiting to speak with you.”  She led her to the private sector of the airport where there was a jet waiting to take the both of them to Wakanda.   


Neither of them spoke the entire trip.  Mina was clutching the card tightly in her hands, chewing on her thumbnail.  As soon as they landed Shuri took her to T’Challa’s private office. He stood as soon as he heard their footsteps heading his way.     


“Little Panther,” he murmured as he pulled her in for a hug.  “Come sit down, you must be tired.” Mina nodded numbly and sat down while T’Challa got her a cup of tea.  “Tell me everything.”   


So Mina began to pour her heart out to T’Challa and Shuri.  The brother and sister duo listened quietly as Mina told her story.  Tears falling down her cheeks. It hurt them to see their friend in so much pain.  “I know I’m hurting him, but I feel like this is the only way to keep the both of them safe.”  She put a hand on her stomach.   


“You can stay here for as long as you like,” T’Challa told her.  “We won’t tell Bucky.”   


“Thank you,” she whispered.     


T’Challa stood up and helped her up as well, “Come along Little Panther, let’s get you settled.”  He led her to her and Bucky’s old room and left her alone to shower and do whatever else it was that she needed to do before she got some rest.   


The room was empty and cold and Mina broke down into sobs as she collapsed onto the bed.  It didn’t take her long to fall asleep. She was exhausted from her flight and the emotional turmoil of the past day.  She didn’t dream of anything, and when she woke the next morning she thought she’d find Bucky laying beside her, kissing her neck gently and asking her why she ran.   


But his side of the bed was cold and she was alone.  That brought on a fresh wave of tears and she curled up into a ball under her covers.  No one bothered her that day except to bring her food.   


 

“The girl is gone,” one of the uniformed HYDRA men said.  “We needed her to get to Barnes.”

Derek smiled, “The Siren won’t be gone forever.  Barnes will find her for us. Patience Patrick. We cannot be as hasty as Shinsky was.  We still have the other Sirens out there. If need be we can use them to lure her out when the time is right.”

Patrick glared at the computer image of Mina boarding the plane to London and then joining the Princess of Wakanda at the gate in London.  “We need her,” he insisted. “All of Shinsky’s research was lost before we could get to it. He deleted most of his files and what he didn’t the Avengers handed over to the government before the trial.  She’s our only hope of making a serum that matches herself, of giving others her abilities as well.”

“And we will have her.  You are so eager, but remember Rome was not built in a day.  We’ve made it this far, what’s a little while longer?”

Patrick stood back and stewed.  He didn’t like the idea of waiting.  The longer they waited the more likely the Avengers would defeat them again and they would have to start the process all over again.

Derek, on the other hand, had been working on this plan for many, many years.  He had faith that it would work, and he had enough patience to wait this minor setback out.  Yes, they would get their hands on Mina Gaspari and James Barnes, it was only a matter of time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please don't hate me. The next one will have a time jump, six years into the future. I've already got the first chapter pretty much written. I just need to come up with a name. It'll be up sometime this week.


End file.
